


Being Human

by Hecallsmehischild



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-14
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-04-26 07:32:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 43,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4995754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hecallsmehischild/pseuds/Hecallsmehischild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Glass Lady has been in Dib's attic for as long as he can remember. Over the years, he stopped believing she was enchanted, but couldn't stop talking to the only person who didn't shut him up. Now, years later, he's starting to wonder if there really is more to the statue than meets the eye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Lady in the Attic

"Daaaaaad, can I check the attic for vampires yet?" Dib whined, "I wanna make sure Gaz doesn't join them, cause then I don't stand a chance."

"Not until you're six and a half, son," his father's imperious voice wafted up from the basement. "That's when the parenting books say children become autonomous."

"But I AM six and a half!" Dib called.

"Oh, have fun then!"

Dib rolled his eyes. He'd just turned six last week, but his Dad tended to lose track of his age pretty easily.

Lucky for him.

Dib strapped on his explorer's helmet, complete with battery-powered headlamp, and grabbed his voice recorder. A good investigator took plenty of memos! He darted over to the back of the upstairs hall. He'd prepared for this day early on, having used a rickety stepladder to tie a longer cord to the ring in the ceiling. On his big day, he would be able to pull the cord and bring down the staircase with ease.

Today was the day. He grabbed the cord, yanking hard. The trapdoor popped open, shooting a set of stairs at his head. He yelped, dodging as it slammed into the ground where he'd stood a moment before.

"Membrane log," he whispered into his recorder, "The vampires know I'm here, they've tried to stop me from discovering them. They're killers, I'll stop 'em!" Yanking his helmet firmly down on his head, he grabbed a fistful of garlic out of his pocket, glancing down to make sure the crucifix was hanging safely around his neck, and charged up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs he paused, glancing back. "My holy water!" He'd bothered a local priest until the man had blessed his water bottle just to get him to go away. It was back on his nightstand, by his bed. He hesitated, then faced forward again. "No goin' back now!"

The light from the hallway below him threw the whole room into spooky shadows, shifting and flickering as he moved. Any one of them could be a vampire, lurking, waiting to pounce on him and suck his blood out. He shivered, excited and terrified as he turned, scanning the attic slowly. "Membrane log, I'm in their lair. Any minute now I'll kick 'em out, and then Gaz will stay a scary normal sister, and not a scary undead sister. Maybe she'll—GAH!"

As he turned, he saw an adult-sized figure looming nearby. Fumbling with his helmet, he flicked on the light, thrusting the garlic in front of him. "Back bloodsucker!"

He paused, adrenaline fading. "You're not a vampire." He muttered, disappointed.

The figure that stood there wasn't a creature of darkness at all. It appeared to be a glass statue. It had few defined features, although it definitely stood upright, one couldn't quite call it human in appearance. Something about its face that wasn't quite right, or the way its arms curved like tendrils instead of arms. Even its forward motion, arrested in time, didn't suggest the usual motion of running. The glass was pure and crystalline. As he shone his headlamp through it, the light broke apart, scattering all over the attic in rainbow-colored diamonds.

"Ooooh," he gazed around, awed, forgetting all about his quest for a moment. "Wow, I didn't know we had somethin' like this!"

He pulled a box over, climbing up on it to better inspect the face. He frowned a little. "Wow, you look like you're scared of something. Hey lady," he said, deciding that the long swath of glass hanging off the back of her head counted as long lady hair, "Don't be sad. I bet you're under a curse or something. I don't do magic, just ghosts an' aliens, but I bet I can find something for ya! My Dad's real smart, just wait, I'll be back!"

Dib tore down the stairs, elated, calling, "Dad! Dad!" He tumbled down the basement steps, babbling, "Dad there's a glass lady in the attic, she looks really really sad, I bet she's under some kind of enchantment, Dad I know you don't like that stuff but can you do it just this once please cause I know you're really smart and science is kinda like magic!"

"Don't be ridiculous son," Membrane laughed, "Science is nothing like magic, because science actually exists. Glass lady? I know there was some junk upstairs when we moved here, it must have been the previous owners."

"Daaaaad pleeeeeeease!" Dib begged.

"Now son, you can do what you want with the junk upstairs, but don't expect me to get involved in your fantasies, I have real work to do."

Dib stuck his lip out, climbing back up dejectedly. He should have known better than to ask.

When he reached the attic again, he pulled the trapdoor closed behind him, plunging the attic into total darkness. Pulling off his helmet, he switched on the headlamp and pointed it at the glass lady. He watched the diamonds fly all over the room and find their places, then pulled up his knees and sighed.

"There can't be any vampires here," He muttered, "That would'a scared 'em outta hiding the first time I did that." He stared up at her. "I think you're really a lady," He said firmly. "Dad's smart but he's wrong. It's gotta be really boring up here all alone and frozen, so I'm gonna talk to you, kay? I'll come every day after Skool, an' we can talk about stuff. I know you can't talk, but someday I'll find a way to make you okay, then we can talk all day long."

A crack sounded in the attic, and he jumped, staring all around. After a moment, he settled down, nervous. It was an attic, and attics made creaky sounds in all the movies. He smiled up at the figure. "Maybe then you'll be able to tell me your name too, that'd be cool, but for now I'll just call you Glass Lady. You'll be secret, kay? I mean, Dad knows, but he's gonna forget real fast, like he forgets a lotta things."

Dib's wrist beeped insistently, and he sighed. "I gotta go Glass Lady. It's dinner, and Dad's hoverscreen chases me if I don't go get dinner. I'll talk to you later." He popped the trapdoor open again, climbing down the attic stairs. "Bye!"

"Who you talkin' to?" Gaz glared up at him from her doorway.

"Just me," Dib grinned widely. "Talkin' to myself."

"Weirdo." Gaz turned, heading for the kitchen.


	2. The Cracking Clock

"Stupid Zim." Dib grimaced, pulling the trapdoor closed behind him. His whole body hurt, aching like he'd been through a hailstorm, which wasn't that far off. Zim's stale sandwich tornado had been a nasty, barely cohesive mass, but held together just enough to knock Dib about and buffet him with hard bread.

"How're you holding up?" Dib asked over his shoulder, checking the equipment. "Same as always, right?"

There was no answer, of course. There wouldn't be.

Sometimes Dib wondered why he kept coming up here, kept spilling out his day to this statue, kept the digital cam feeding images to his computer. He'd set up the camera shortly after discovering her, to make sure she was safe from any dark creature that might try and sneak in to reclaim her. He'd given up trying to wake the Glass Lady by age 9, and just last year he'd confirmed she wasn't enchanted after he begged a session out of Agent Tunaghost to determine if there was any magic on her.

Still, there was something comforting about his little ritual. Granted, he only came up once a week now, unless it had been a particularly terrible day and he needed to vent. Like the day he'd found out how little Dwicky really cared about saving the Earth. Or the day Zim's contact lens fell out and nobody cared. Or the day Zim was abducted by a giant alien in front of the class and nobody saw. His mouth turned down. At this point, he _hoped_ the statue wasn't enchanted, because it had seen him cry that day.

"Today's invasion plan was pretty stupid." Dib sighed, "But it sure hurt. Who knew bread could be a dangerous weapon?" He glanced up at her face. It was the face that still gave him the tiniest bit of doubt as to whether or not she was pure statue. He still remembered impression he had of the look on the face when he'd first seen her. It had been an expression of fear, with the distinct feeling of attempting to outrun something.

Now the expression was softer, more pensive and thoughtful. He could, of course, have imagined that it was fear, likely it had always been this thoughtful expression. But he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that it had subtly changed over time.

Ridiculous of course, but still there, in the corner of his mind.

_Crack._

He'd become accustomed to the cracking sounds in the attic as well, they'd become as familiar and dependable as a metronome to a music student. Sometimes, when he'd worn out all his words, he'd just sit there, watching the light play off the Glass Lady, listening for the crack every thirty minutes.

He opened his mouth to address her again, then sighed, slumping to the ground next to her and resting his forehead against the clear glass. "Lady," he said quietly, "I'm tired. Nobody believes me about Zim. I'm practically invisible unless I'm shouting, and then I'm 'Crazy,' and Dad isn't even ignoring me from the basement anymore. Now he's ignoring me from his lab." He closed his eyes. "Maybe he's got a point. Maybe they all do, I'm talking to a glass statue. I probably am crazy. Even old man Lars throws stuff at me and screams some nonsense about my glasses burning my face off, he hardly reacts to anyone else. Maybe I was just born with the worst luck."

He lapsed into silence, pointing the lamp he'd installed in the attic directly at the statue. He used to pretend the patterns spelled out responses, until he outgrew pretend. He used to color pictures for the Glass Lady and pin them up on the wall so she wouldn't be bored while he was gone. Some tattered and worn papers still remained on the wall.

_Crack._

Time flew up here sometimes. He hadn't meant to stay an hour. He had homework to do, and files on Zim to catalogue. He got up, stretching. He ran a hand down one of the Lady's arms gently. "Guess I'll be back in a few days."

Climbing down the trapdoor stairs, he wondered to himself how long it would be before he outgrew talking to the statue. Not that it would make any difference to the statue, but he got the feeling he'd be melancholy on that day. It would be like giving up sleeping with stuffed animals, because you know you've gotten too old for them. A sad, but necessary part of growing up.

Of course, some just roboticized their stuffed animals into guardian night terrors that fed on human flesh. Dib gave Gaz's door a wide berth as he slipped into his own room. Leaping onto his chair, he spun himself around a couple of times before settling down to organize his files. He clicked onto the feed in the attic to download the weeks' footage of absolutely nothing happening, send it to his hard drive, and connect to the live feed.

The half-hourly cracking had become his clock, and a comforting nighttime noise. That was why he kept filming, he reasoned.

He checked his homework folder. Nothing he couldn't do in the five minutes before Skool in the morning. Grimacing, he rubbed his side and decided that notes on Zim from today could wait. A hot shower was the more pressing need.

He glanced at the loading bar on his computer, and frowned. He'd gotten lazy about downloading the recording data, and had left it running for a few weeks. The compressed file would zip through the footage as it downloaded, playing everything at a higher speed. He didn't like the idea of his sound-clock speeding up, even if it was just for downloading's sake. He'd have to make sure he didn't put it off so long next time.

He accepted the download and turned to leave the room. It would be over by the time he was done with his shower.

_Crack. Crack. Crack. CRACK. Crack. CRACK. Crack. Crack. CRACK._

He paused, glancing back. Was it his imagination, or did the cracks have different tonal qualities?

He shrugged uneasily. It was just the attic creaking, always had been.

Every half hour. Perfectly. For years.

He slipped slowly back into his seat, staring at the footage as it zipped by, listening to the _crack_ ing. It was most definitely changing up and down in pitch.

Suddenly his fingers gripped the edge of his chair, his knuckles flashing bone white. He could see himself in the footage, zipping about like a squirrel on steroids, flashing in and out of the footage like mad as it rolled through the time, that was to be expected.

But at the same time, with exceeding and painful slowness, he could see the glass lady's arm stretching farther out, ever so slightly, as the entire statue slid imperceptibly forward.


	3. The Combustion Chamber

Dib was back in front of the statue so fast, his neck protested the whiplash from him screeching to a halt in front of it. He stared up at her for a moment, then circled around her. Clicking on a flashlight, he shined a flashlight to the area directly behind her. Then he scanned around the attic, and came back to the area behind her.

The attic was densely packed with all kinds of junk and boxes of every size. He used to play up there sometimes, hiding behind them and making them into fortresses or cover for various operations. But directly behind the Glass Lady was an easily walkable path, free of boxes, leading all the way back to the corner of the attic.

_ZIP_

He darted back down to the computer, pulling up five years' worth of recording data. "Computer, take all this footage and play it at compression download speed, from the beginning!"

His computer creaked as it processed Dib's request, booting up a player and zipping through the footage.

Dib ignored the image of himself on the screen, only fixing his eyes on the Lady. Sure enough, he could see her moving forward, perhaps a few inches each year. How had he not realized she'd been moving closer to the trapdoor? It had to be because of how slow she moved, he'd just adjusted and never noticed.

"Computer!" He straightened. "Computer, go back to the top." He reached out to manually program his next commands. His vocal recognition software was getting better, but it still screwed up if the commands got too complicated, and he didn't want all his footage deleted by accident. He quickly pulled together a filter, toning down his voice as well as all external noises. He targeted the metronomic _CRACK_ and amplified it as the sole sound on the footage.

"Now, play it at five times compression download speed!" Dib ordered, sitting back.

This time, he could clearly see the statue moving forward, reaching out.

And he heard words.

"—eeeeeeeeeed hhhheeeaaaaaaaat pleeeaaaaassssssseeeeeee heeeeeeeaaaaaaaattttttttt Dddddddddddiiiiiiiiiiiibbbbb heeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaatttttt!"

The hair on the back of his neck stood up.

So. The cracking wasn't cracking. If this thing was trapped in slow motion, it was plausible to conclude that her voice, drawn out as slowly as her motion, only came out one vibration at a time. To his ears, this would sound like cracking.

And heat? She was in need of heat? It could make sense. If she was solid glass and moving that slowly… glass flowed in a molten, liquid state when heated up…

And she said his name.

She.

Said.

His.

Name.

She learned. For all he knew, she'd been calling for help years before he came, but from the time he had entered that attic and begun talking to her, she had said his name.

She was sentient.

But was she dangerous?

He could already feel it. The curiosity itching at the back of his mind. He knew what it meant. He knew that by the end of the day, he'd be neck-deep in some sort of trouble, or strange situation that he'd kick himself for later. He had no idea if she would be a friend or a threat, but he knew he would learn soon.

He had to prepare. Maybe some fireproof clothing would be a good start, and a welder's mask. Definitely an emergency fire extinguisher or five in case she turned out to be hostile. Maybe in a few days—

And then it hit him. He bolted out of his seat and ran for his father's basement, frantically searching for a hovering transport device of some sort. He couldn't waste another second. If she was able to speak his name at the end of a sentence, that meant she didn't see a skittering incomprehensible chipmunk like he was on the film. She saw him in real time, every day, enough to learn his name. She'd probably heard every word he said, and spent every day for five years—or longer, however long she'd been up there or frozen before that even—trapped in agonizing slow motion, begging for help.

Not even one more hour. Nobody deserved a fate like that.

"Gotcha!" He trumpeted, dragging the old hover helmet out from an old box. It was dented from his fall as a child, but still worked fairly well. And if the Glass Lady was as heavy as she looked, it would work just enough to get her mobile.

Dashing upstairs he shouted, "Glass Lady, don't worry, I know what's going on, just wait a minute! I just have to strap this on." He stacked a couple boxes on top of each other and hopped up, teetering precariously, to fit the helmet on top of her head and strap it under her chin.

He paused as he clicked the buckle together. "Where am I gonna get that much heat?" He muttered, running through possibilities in his mind before dismissing them. Then he snapped his fingers. "I've got it. The boiler in the basement, gives off a ton of heat. I don't know if that's enough, but it's a start til I figure something else out."

Clicking on the helmet, he hopped down, keeping a firm hold on her outstretched arm. To his delight, she rose an inch or so off the ground. "Perfect!" He exclaimed. "Just hold on, we'll get you downstairs!"

_Crack._

He towed her out of the attic, backing down slowly. All it would take is one misstep, or banging the helmet against something, and the Glass Lady would be shattered before she had a chance at any heat. He wondered if she would die if she was shattered, or if she could just be repaired by being returned to molten form. Did she feel pain? Would her pain be extended if she remained broken? What did she eat? Was she hungry? He had so many questions!

"That had better not be going in the living room, Dib!" Gaz shouted from the other side of her closed door. "This house is weird enough as it is."

Dib rolled his eyes. "Basement, Gaz, out of sight, don't worry about it."

"And don't touch the Frankenchokies!"

"Got it!" He brought the statue carefully to the main level, then maneuvered it to go down the last flight of steps.

At the back of the room stood an old boiler, painted cherry red and hospital white with rust streaks and peeling paint flakes all over. He pulled the Lady right next to it, then used a nearby stool to leap up and lower the power on the helmet until she touched the ground. He flipped it off completely and unclipped it, jumping back down to the floor.

"Alright, well, boiler's on full blast. Hope you're not dangerous, not sure how much heat you need or how long this is gonna take…" His eyes widened.

He'd peeped into the air vents of the boiler's combustion chamber once or twice and had seen the flames that kept the thing functional, but they always stayed inside the chamber. Now, they were leaping out of the vent, reaching and licking and roaring toward the Glass Lady. And it wasn't just flames. He could see heatwaves shimmering, not upward, but sideways toward her, as if she were drawing them toward herself.

Picking up a marker, he drew an outline of her base on the floor. Then he sat down, staring as the flames licked at the edge of her form.

_Crack._

He pulled the recorder from his trench coat pocket and hit the button. "Membrane log, I don't know how long it will take the Glass Lady to heat up enough to be normal speed, but it seems heat was what she needed. If it takes days I'm calling in sick, this is possibly the most exciting find since Zim came to Skool. I can't wait to see what the Eyeball thinks of this, more to come later."

Years of steady, patient stakeouts had prepared him well. He noted minute changes. When the _Crack_ next came at 28 minutes instead of half an hour, he recorded the data. When the next came at 25 minutes, he recorded that. When he checked her base, she'd crossed the outline by half an inch in the direction of the boiler.

Within an hour, the _Crack_ was coming at 15 minutes, and she was touching the boiler, specifically the vent. He swore he could almost make out a hopeful expression on her face.

By the next hour, he could track her motion at the rate of a slug, and it appeared she was pouring herself into the boiler vent and into the combustion chamber. The cracking happened at the rate of one per minute, and her whole head was in the shaft.

By the end of the third hour, he watched as the last of her disappeared into the vent. The cracking had fallen silent, and the boiler glowed brightly. Dib scrubbed the sweat from his forehead. The temperature had definitely risen.

Cautiously, he approached the vent, peering in. The flames, usually low and manageable, had been whipped into a roaring frenzy around what was now a puddle of glass that had begun to glow a deep orange. He pulled his chair over and sat, staring into the vent.

"Just a blob now?" He asked, a little deflated. "Well. I don't know if you're okay or not… can you hear me?"

He waited, but received no answer. Sighing, he crossed his legs and leaned back in the chair. "Maybe try and let me know when you're done? If you still can…"

A sluggish, slow voice rumbled from the combustion chamber. "Thaaaaaaaank youuuuuuuuuu Diiiiiiiiiib pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaseee waaaaaaaait."

Dib straightened, his face lighting up again. "Wait, okay! I can do that! Oh man oh man, you are real, I can't believe it. I'll be the most patient waiter ever, not as patient as you've been, how did you manage all that time? Wow, just wait, this is going to be the biggest thing ever!"


	4. The Lungless Wonder

Dib's nose wrinkled as he shifted in the chair, muttering sleepily. It was so warm, he must have fallen asleep. So warm, and she was taking so long to heat up—

His eyes shot open. The Glass Lady! He bolted to his feet and raced over to the vent.

He could barely peer in, it was so hot. All the readings groaned in the red zone, and in the combustion chamber lay a puddle of liquid glass.

"Lady?" He ventured, "Glass Lady, are you alright?"

The surface of the puddle rippled. He wondered if she was just sleeping, and he was waking her. But he'd been waiting so long!

"Glass Lady, are you in there?" He lifted his cellphone, snapping a few photos through the vent. "Are you alright?"

The puddle began to shift and bunch, pouring toward the vent opening. Dib yelped, leaping back as it began pouring out of the vent and onto the concrete. As more of it exited, the puddle on the floor began to rise, taking shape and form. Within seconds she stood before him, just as she had for years. A wide, roundish base with tendrils around the edges stretched upward, narrowing and tapering off to a thin neck atop which a blank face sat. As before, a swath of glass hung down off the back of her head, only now he pieced together that it looked like a ponytail of sorts. Oranges, reds, and yellows danced all over her surface, and he could vaguely see distorted images of things behind her through the colors. Two tendrils formed out of the sides of her body, reaching up toward the ceiling and bending to the side in what could have been a stretching motion. The face was completely blank, but as he watched the features began to take shape. Eyes and mouth, not like a person's, but like one would see carved on a statue's face. A little point poked out just below the eyes and above the mouth, which he took to be a nose.

The eyes, once formed, turned and fixed on him. The mouth stretched upward in a grin too wide for a human to make, and she darted forward, exclaiming, "Oh Dib thank you so much I can't believe you finally figured it out you'll have to tell me oh I'm so sorry—" She swerved aside, inches from him, and darted to the far corner of the room, her smile gone. "So very sorry must not touch you oh it almost happened must not happen again."

Dib blinked, jaw hanging open.

The Glass Lady stared at him, fiddling with her tendrils, alternately glancing down and over at him. Finally, she edged a couple inches away from the corner, and murmured, "Please forgive me but what is this expression you are making I have seen people open their mouths this wide to eat things but right now there is no food in front of you could you please tell me which emotion is connected to this facial expression so I know when it is appropriate to make this face?"

Dib's jaw clicked shut as he continued staring.

She fidgeted, looking down again. "Why are you making that face looking at me I know I came very close to you but I did not harm you I would never burn you please don't look at me like that I'm very sorry if I frightened you but say something Dib I've heard you speak for years and years and you told me everything and you put up pictures to keep me company when you were away and you played all around me why are you suddenly so quiet and staring like I'm…" her voice died away.

Shaking himself free of shock, he found his own voice. "No, no Glass Lady, I'm sorry, it's just… I mean… I never really thought… I might have started out thinking you were alive at first, but then I grew up and figured you weren't. I had no idea…" He eyed her warily, but his curiosity was already moving him closer. Besides, she didn't seem dangerous.

Okay, she seemed EXTREMELY dangerous, but in a totally non-threatening, unintentional way. She watched him come closer, and brightened some, the smile returning to her face.

"Then you aren't afraid of me?" She hoped aloud.

"I don't think so," he said, stopping four feet from her. "But I have so many questions… to start with, what's your real name?"

Her smile grew. "I like your name for me Glass Lady is very pretty but my name is Remara and you are Dib Membrane and you like finding proof for things nobody believes in did you get Bigfoot to stop long enough to take a photo yet?"

He felt his shoulders relax. "Not yet, but next time I'll bring some jerky, he seemed to like that, and maybe he'll hold still longer."

"I know you'll get a photo of him someday you're very patient you know you haven't given up yet I don't think you ever will I love hearing your stories I think you kept me smiling inside even though I couldn't smile outside I was too cold but every time you told me stories I felt warmer inside and your drawings too can I keep your drawings Dib I know I can't touch them but I want to keep them can I?"

Dib put up his hands. "Whoah whoah… Remara, you said? You have to slow down a little bit, I can only answer you if you stop to take a… breath…" He peered at her body. "Do you even have lungs?"

"What are lungs?" She puzzled, answering his question.

"Vibration of glass particles maybe," he mused, inspecting her, "You could probably make sound from any part of your body that way." It made sense, her voice held an undertone of ringing, like tiny chimes clashing together to form every syllable. And with no lungs, she had no need to pause for breath.

"Lungs are vibration of glass particles maybe?" She was even more confused.

"No no no, I was just guessing how you're talking. Lungs are part of the human body, I breathe with them—something I don't think you need to do—and they help me talk." He noted that even though she had no lungs or respiratory system he could see, she continued to move her mouth when she spoke. Maybe he could ask her more questions about how she worked, what she was, where she'd come from…

"Ohhhhh," she nodded, "So can I keep your drawings?"

Despite himself, Dib found he was smiling. It was hard to believe someone actually cared about his childhood scribbles. "Well first we have to find a place for you to stay. You can't stay up in the attic, that's for sure. I'm guessing you're… well let me check." He walked over to his father's desk, imitating his voice mockingly, "Let's do this scientifically." He pulled out a heat gage and returned, handing it to Remara. "Would you hold this please?"

Gingerly she took it, wrapping her tendrils around it. The meter instantly shot into the four digits, giving an annoying _blat_ sound as it fluctuated around 1600 degrees Farenheit.

"Yeah you're going to catch things on fire if you go back upstairs." He chewed his lip. "You're probably not right now just cause you're in a concrete room. But maybe here's the best place for now, seems like you need to keep warm and the boiler's the best place for that." He stared at the boiler, struck by a thought. "How could you possibly have gotten that hot, our boiler couldn't have heated you to 1600!"

She blinked. "It wasn't a very hot flame but I made it more and kept pulling it in and putting it out and pulling it in and putting it out over and over to make it very hot inside me until I could move again and then I just kept it inside me and kept taking heat but it is leaving me all the time I can't hold onto it if I'm not in warm places." She sighed. "I used to have a gift a friend gave to me it was a stone that held as much heat as I put in it like storage and I could go for very long times without needing to be in a hot place because it was inside me but I lost it when I was running."

"You looked like you were running when I first saw you." He seized on that. "What were you running from?"

Her features blurred, almost as if she were pulling them back under a smooth, blank surface. "I do not want to talk about that Dib can we please not talk about that time?"

Slightly alarmed, he soothed, "It's okay, it's okay, we don't have to talk about that right now. We can talk about other things, yeah? Like… like you've been frozen for a really long time, are you hungry?"

"Hungry this is that thing people say they feel right before they eat am I correct but I do not need any sand right now I have not moved around very much."

Stunned by the implications of her words, he glanced at the floor. A light shimmer traced her path on the concrete floor, the thinnest sheen of glass wherever she had moved. "Of course!" He exclaimed. "Sand? You need to replenish yourself whenever you move, just like we do, but your energy output is literally visible and has to be replaced oh man oh man this is so cool!"

"Actually I am very hot not cool and that's what I just said so I do not need sand right now but perhaps later I might but for right now I would really like to see your—"

"Drawings, I got it. I'll grab them from upstairs. Stay here, ok? I'll be right back." As he started up the stairs, his watch beeped. He gasped. "Remara, actually, I gotta go to school. Stay here, and if you hear footsteps and I don't call your name, you hide in the boiler and don't say anything, got it?"

"Okay Dib have a good day at school and please tell me all about the plague when you get back it's very sad but it's good to hear you talking."

He blinked, grinning as he flew up the stairs. They were in the middle of learning about the Black Plague for the sixth time that year, he still couldn't believe she had heard every word he'd ever said to her.

Class would be slow today, he could just tell.


	5. The Stairway Spy

Dib could hardly believe how slowly the day dragged at Skool. It was usually hard to pretend to pay attention to Ms. Bitters and her horrific lessons, but today it was nearly impossible. At one point during the class, Zim flew into a rage over the fact that Napoleon failed to conquer Russia, but Dib barely noticed. His eyes were trained on the clock.

When the day finally ended, he grabbed his binder and tore for the door. He was so focused on his escape, he didn't notice the standard issue Invader boot stuck squarely across his path. He faceplanted, tasting linoleum as his glasses cracked. He sat up, glaring.

"What's the matter Dib?" Zim sneered. "Is your head too large to keep off the ground? I'm not surprised the gravitational pull of the planet finally exerted its full effect on that gargantuan skull."

"My head's not big!" Dib snapped, gathering up his scattered books and standing. "And I'm busy, I don't have time for you being the biggest little jerk in the universe."

"LITTLE?" Zim screeched. "Zim is not LITTLE!"

"Little and loud!" Dib called over his shoulder. "Try gargling water, it'll do wonders for your volume problem!"

"Just you wait Dib! Wait 'til you see my latest plan to take over your planet, you'll be groveling at my…"

Dib kept going, not looking back. Yesterday he might have stayed for Zim's rant, and thrown a punch or two. But today was different. The upcoming days would probably be different too. He'd have to make _some_ time to keep Zim in check, but his plans had been _really_ lame lately, so maybe Dib didn't have to worry so much.

His feet barely touched the pavement on the way back and he practically crashed through the front door. He aimed for the basement, but swerved at the last moment. He took a few moments to collect his drawings from the attic walls, then he returned to the basement.

"Glass La—Remara?"

A glass blob poked out from the boiler, forming into a smiling face. "Dib you came back it is good to see you again oh you brought the drawings thank you so much will you put them up on the wall again I would do it but then they wouldn't be there anymore."

He couldn't stop a smile. Something about the way she talked, so energetic and everflowing, it was infectious. He grabbed some tape off his Dad's desk and began plastering up the drawings. He paused as he held one up.

"Hey, I didn't draw this one." He squinted at it. "There's a unicorn in it, I don't draw unicorns, that's dumb."

"Oh that must be the one your sister drew sometimes she came up too but always when you weren't there I think she wanted to be alone and not alone too do you think she'll be happy I'd like to meet her also."

Dib stared at her. "My sister was up there? Gaz? She talked to you?"

Remara poured out of the boiler and nodded. "She had a lot of thoughts just like you and most of them very unhappy."

"What did she talk to you about?"

Remara shook her head. "I am sorry Dib but I think it would not be kind if I shared what she obviously wanted to keep to herself especially if she did not know I was really listening if you want to know perhaps you should ask her."

"Ask my sister? Hah. The day she wants to talk to me will be the day Zim actually does something intelligent." Dib scowled, pasting the drawing up. He glanced back, catching a somber expression on Remara's face. He forced a grin. "But enough about that, I wanna know everything about you! How did you… no, you don't want to talk about how you got like that. Well, what are you? Can we start there?"

Remara nodded, coiling up on the floor and leaning against the boiler. "The closest words used to describe what I am in your language are Glass Flow I understand most humans have never seen a Glass Flow and that most glass humans come across is not alive at all much like your hair and the ends of your fingers are not alive and can be removed without any pain such is the glass of your world but where I come from there are many of us all alive and swirling and flowing around the Core."

"The Core?" Dib echoed. "What's that?"

"The Core is a lovely wonderfully hot place and I had to travel up for a very very long time to reach where we are now."

"Up?" Dib looked down. "The Core! You come from the center of the Earth? There's MORE of you down there?"

"Yes many of us and we are always circling and touching each other and the Core sustains our energy without need to stop and absorb other heat and there is never any worry about freezing and we are always touching." Her voice held a mournful chime.

"So if you're all molten glass, why do you need a face? Why the hair?" He gestured at her ponytail. "You obviously don't actually have hair, why form it?"

Her eyes dropped down, and he wondered even at that. Could she see through the eyes, or was she mimicking the expression needed for that moment?

"It seems that the more human I appear the less frightening I am to humans and as I am stuck on the surface it is to my benefit to appear as human as possible to keep them from being afraid but I have not succeeded very well because they keep running away and I can't study how they look very well I have only made very few friends on the surface and none of them were really human but from them I have learned speech and the correct expression for the correct emotion and how to look a little bit human."

"So that's why you move your mouth when you talk," Dib mused. "To set people at ease… if they don't run." He sighed. "Sorry to break it to you Remara, but most people are either terrified of something as different as you, or they completely ignore it. Or they…" he trailed off, abruptly cutting off thoughts of laboratories and what would happen if one got ahold of Remara. It crossed his mind that the best thing for her would be to return home.

The corners of his mouth turned down. He didn't really want her to leave. Maybe he could figure something out. "Tell you what, how about you study me? I'll talk to you and ask you questions, and you can ask me questions and study how I look. Just, uh, don't copy me okay? If we ever manage to go out it would be hard to explain."

She shook her head. "I will not copy you I only need to study things like what an arm looks like and how fingers move and how to make legs things like that and maybe work on my face a little more also you never explained this expression and what emotion it matches." She hung her mouth open in a perfect mimicry of Dib's shocked expression on first seeing her move.

Dib laughed. "That's shock, Remara. I couldn't really believe what I was seeing, and I wasn't focusing on holding my mouth shut."

Remara's mouth shut and she nodded. "Thank you Dib this is information that is helpful to me oh hello Gaz."

Dib whipped around, spotting his sister on the stairwell.

Gaz stood there, a stunned expression on her face as she stared past him. How long had she been standing there? Slowly, her features hardened, her eyes squinting shut again.

"Stupid Dib. What were you thinking?" Her fists clenched, her voice unsteady. "The world breaks things like her. Breaks them and laughs." Turning, she fled back up the stairs.


	6. The Oblivious Professor

"Gaz!" Dib sprinted up the steps after her. "What are you going to do? You can't tell Dad, not until I've figured something out, ok?"

She spun on her heel at the top of the steps, glaring down at him. "What, you don't want your precious proof for Dad? He might actually believe you for once."

His eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means now you finally have proof you're not nuts, psycho, completely insane, so go on and haul her in! Watch them freeze her and break her just for science sake! They'll probably give you a medal for it, go on!"

Stung, Dib took a step down. "I wouldn't do that, Gaz! What's your problem?"

"Nothing that a few months without seeing your face won't fix." She turned, stomping up toward her room.

He stomped back down into the basement, a throbbing starting just behind his eyes. "I don't know what her problem is," he growled, "She should know better. I would never—" He glanced up, and just about swallowed his tongue.

Remara was looking at him with a blank face, no eyes no nose and no mouth. A voice came from her, the same voice, but with a more hesitant note. "Dib I know that you often speak of needing proof and wanting to not be seen as crazy and I know it means so very very much to you but please I do not want to be broken by your father if that is what he would do and if what you say about him and what Gaz says about him is true he is very much interested in finding out how things work and would not worry so much about whether or not it would hurt and I can assure you," a ripple passed through the glass, "It would hurt very much."

Dib looked down, sighing heavily and releasing his tension. "Remara, I wouldn't do that. And you're right, he would, so steer clear of him. He wouldn't be trying to be cruel, he just…" He shrugged. "Yeah, steer clear. It's best that way. I wouldn't do that." He dismissed his earlier idea of contacting the Eyeball. They wouldn't be any better. No, he had to handle Remara himself.

But what exactly did that entail? He lifted his head, grateful she had reformed her face with somewhat of a smile.

"Well, what are you going to do, Remara? You're here on the surface, is there a way to get you home?" He hedged, hoping selfishly that the answer was no.

Her face fell. "No." She said quietly.

He blinked. "Care to expand?"

"No." She repeated firmly.

Perhaps she'd open up later. He filed it away, and tried another angle. "Alright, so what are you going to do up here on the surface?"

She twisted her tendrils together, studying the concrete. It struck Dib that without a way back, she knew she was trapped up here, but had no idea how to move forward.

How did a Glass Flow integrate into American society anyway?

"Well," he said slowly, "If you've got nowhere else to go, and you're going to be around, maybe I can help you learn to fit in."

"Fit in?" She tested the words as though she knew what each meant, but not the meaning of the two together.

"Yeah, blend in and learn to live on the surface. Like one of us."

"Like a human?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "Is it possible?"

"Well, I have no idea," he confessed, "But it's worth a try, I mean, what else would you do?"

She dipped her head. "Well if you think that this is worth a try I am willing to try what is the first step do you think?"

"The first step is finding a way to get you out of this room without burning the house down. Gimme a minute." He bounded upstairs, taking the steps two at a time until he reached the top. Skidding into the kitchen, he pounced on the hoverscreen, activating it to call the Professor.

"What is it, Son, I'm very busy with my new All-Terrain-Tire invention that REALLY tackles ANY terrain, not like those fake ads you see all the time. Those tires would pop within a few hours on the surface of the sun. And they call themselves All-Terrain." He scoffed.

"That's great Dad, actually it relates to a project I'm working on. Our class is taking a field trip to a volcano tomorrow."

"Our tax dollars at work!" Membrane crowed. "That's quite a field trip upgrade from when I was at that Skool."

"Yeah, but the Skool can't afford the fireproof clothing. So I need something REALLY fireproof, like, something that could withstand volcanic heat. Pants, shoes, shirt? Oh and gloves!"

"Hm, well I suppose we could throw a set of clothes together, maybe two sets in case you spill ketchup on one. It's fire resistant, not stain resistant." The Professor laughed heartily at his own joke.

Dib grinned a little. This was the most he'd gotten to talk to his Dad in awhile. "Sounds great Dad. Oh!" He recalled the stone Remara had mentioned. "Do you have anything that could store a lot of heat? Like, absorb it and discharge it when needed? I want to make an awesome experiment for the science fair based on the volcano."

"Now son, that project is untested technology and won't be ready for at least six months. You'll have to figure out something else. But let me know if there's something else I can help with, at least if it relates to SCIENCE!" He emphasized. "I'll send the clothes over with Simmons in an hour."

"Thanks Dad. I'll give you a full report." Dib lied, knowing his Dad would have forgotten by the next day.

"Sounds good son, do well in Skool and one day you'll be the one running Membrane Inc. Farewell!" The screen blinked off.

He chewed his lip. So, Earth's best scientist didn't have the technology to give Remara a heat-storage device. The only other option was… definitely not an option. Not that he would help anyway. Maybe she wouldn't need it, though. Maybe she'd have enough heat to get through the day.

He ran back to the stairs and skidded to a halt to see Remara near the top, just watching him.

"Don't worry I understand I need to stay on stone right now," she gestured at the concrete stairs. "I am not entering this room I just wanted to be nearby it is always very lonely when you go."

Lonely. Dib pulled a chair over, sitting in it. "You were frozen for a really long time I guess. How did you stand it?"

"I told you I looked at your drawings and I replayed in my mind the stories of your day and also of Gaz's day and waited for the next time you would be back."

"I'd have gone insane. Really insane, not just what they call me."

"It isn't pleasant," she admitted, "But it is over now and I am glad."

"Yeah, me too. But we're going to have to do a lot of work. The first thing we're going to have to do is get you looking like someone my age." He gestured behind her. "Back down there please, and I'll come with you."

He followed her as she flowed back down the steps, the fresh glass trail on the step radiating warmth through his shoes. "You said you need to study a human to look more like them, right? So start." He shed his trench coat and stood in place, legs spread and arms out at his sides. "You're going to have to look like us and move like us. Start by making your body look like a human's, then we'll work on walking."

She swooped in closer, inspecting him as she flowed back and forth and all around, peering and scrutinizing, but never coming too close.

Part of him wondered what he was doing, wondered if Gaz was right and this would all end terribly, but he silenced that thought. He finally had a friend, someone who actually listened to him, and not only that, needed his help. Gaz could shove it, he would make this work if it killed him.


	7. The Clothing Conundrum

It took Remara the better part of two hours to form rudimentary arms and legs. From what Dib could observe, her mimicry was based on intense concentration and sheer force of will keeping her particles in certain collected shapes and forms. He asked if it had been like this when she first started, as she seemed to hold the semi-human form fairly easily, and she'd admitted it was very difficult at first, but that the longer she held and practiced a form the easier it was to keep.

"How long is 'longer'?" He checked.

"It was many weeks before I didn't have to think hard at all about the form you first saw me in."

He grimaced, biting his lip. He wasn't sure they had weeks to work with.

"Dib why are you eating your face?"

He released his lip, snickering. "It's just a facial expression for worry or thinking hard," he assured her, "I'm not really eating my face. But back to the topic, do you also think it was harder because you didn't have any model to study?"

She inclined her head. "That may also be the case possibly."

"So you might learn faster with a model, even with many models." The doorbell upstairs dinged. "Hold that." He darted upstairs, accepting the packages from Simmons, and dashed back down. "I'm lucky stupid Zim's got me on my toes all the time or my legs would be killing me from all this stair climbing."

Remara's face wrinkled. "Your legs would commit murder against you that makes no sense Dib because they are a part of you and cannot revolt unless there is something you need to explain to me about how the human body works."

"Expression, Remara. It just means they would hurt a lot right now if I wasn't used to running all the time." He unwrapped the package. "Okay look, I got you some clothes. It'll help you blend in—I mean, it'll make you look more human." He had to get used to picking his expressions more carefully. With Zim he didn't care, of course, but Remara didn't need the added confusion.

She made a very human-sounding sigh and pointed at them. "But Dib you know that if I touch most things including cloth it goes up in flames."

He paused, peering a little at her. "Well, yeah that's probably what will happen but the way you talk about it is like you've seen that happen before."

"I was around the surface before you for long enough to see what happens when I touch things that were never intended for the level of heat I need to flow." There was a deep sorrow in her tone that took Dib off guard, but before he could comment, she cut him off. "And I still do not wish to discuss those days I see the question all over your face."

"Fast learner," he mused, "But I got fireproof clothing. My Dad made the material himself, it can withstand volcanic temperatures, so it should be good for you. And look!" He lifted up the shoes and gloves. "With these you can leave the basement as soon as you learn to walk like a human."

Her features split into a wide, beaming smile so joyful, Dib couldn't help reflecting it back.

"Oh Dib thank you that is so thoughtful you are going to bring me up into the world and I can learn new things and meet people maybe I know I must be careful but this is more than I thought could happen I will learn and study as hard as I can so I will be ready when we go up oh thank you thank you is this how you put them on?" She took the shirt, placing it on top of her head so that it draped like a veil.

"Ah, no Remara. Like this, watch." He pulled off his shirt, holding it up for her inspection, then slowly pulled it on over his head.

"Could you please repeat that motion?" She requested. He did, twice more, and she managed to pull on the shirt.

She bulged out of it in several places, oozing uncomfortably, and he realized the shirt was made for someone his size and not an adult.

"Oh, Remara… is there any way you can shrink down?"

She looked at herself. "I am too big?"

"If you're going to come with me to Skool you're going to have to look like a kid my age, and you're too big."

She folded part of her face until it looked like she was biting her lip, and Dib fought very hard to keep a straight face. "I could separate part of myself and it would hurt some but it does not hurt as much when I am this hot and then it will be like when I have seen humans cutting off their hair and the hair is no longer ever a part of them again and then I will be smaller."

"You have to get rid of part of yourself? Are you sure you'll be alright?"

She nodded. "I will be well it will hurt some though and I will release a good deal of heat so please stand far back."

He backed off to the far corner of the basement, and she moved to the opposite side. Her face went blank as she concentrated. As he watched, a large lump of molten glass bunched together, traveled to her base, and separated. Her body rippled, and there was a small cracking noise, not so much like broken glass, but like a crack running through a stone.

After a moment, she raised her head, a small smile on her face. "I am small enough now?" She was half the size she had been before, still a large-looking child but small enough to pass for his classmate. In the corner, a large glass blob lay cooling slowly. "I do not wish to get very much smaller because now it is already much harder to keep in the heat that I have and I do not think I can go very far from the boiler now that I think of it do you have any way I can carry heat with me Dib?"

Dib clapped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from swearing. Of course, she'd decreased her body size and now she had less heat retention. Still, she couldn't have come adult-sized…

"I'll have to figure that one out, Remara. For now, pull on the rest of your clothes. The pants… um…" His face flushed red. "Um, well you see how I'm standing in them right? Just flow into the shape of the pants."

"You're turning funny colors Dib what does it mean when you turn funny colors?"

"Nevermind! Just put on the pants."


	8. The Girl in the Dark

Dib worked with Remara late into the night. He paced back and forth across the room for hours, showing her the mechanics of walking as she laboriously mimicked his every move. She fell quite a bit, but never seemed hurt. Partway through the evening she retired to the combustion chamber to recharge her heat, and Dib realized that taking her any major distance from a heatsource was out of the question.

The Eyeball wouldn't have anything that his Dad didn't, and his Dad hadn't developed what he was looking for yet. He only had one other option, and it made his skin crawl. But he couldn't pass this opportunity up!

Eventually, when Remara began mirroring his yawns, he laughed. "Sorry Remara. I'm just tired. I don't think I can take you out tomorrow, but soon. Get some rest if you need it, I gotta sleep and go to Skool. See you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay Dib I will be here have a good day and tell me all about the London Bridge collapsing when you return from Ms. Bitters."

"You bet." He left, closing the basement door behind him. He would need all his rest for tomorrow, and he had to figure out how much he was willing to negotiate for the item he needed.

….

Remara continued practicing after Dib left. It was difficult to hold herself to the form of a human, but less difficult thanks to Dib allowing her to study him for hours.

But Gaz…

She stared up at the basement door. It wasn't right. That wasn't Gaz.

Concentrating, she carefully stepped up onto the bottom stair. Dib had spent a good half hour taking off his shoes and putting them back on so she could do the same. They made a funny rubbery sound wherever she placed her… feet… but hopefully would allow her to go up into the house as long as she was very careful.

She inched up the stairs, taking each step with care. On reaching the door, she put out a gloved hand to touch the knob. Keeping the fingers of the gloves filled, she curled them around the handle and pulled down like she'd observed Dib doing, and pushed it open.

She remembered the path Dib had taken when he moved her, and she carefully retraced it, climbing the second set of stairs just as slowly. Gaz had yelled from the door on the right… but that was coming from the opposite direction. Slowly she turned to the left, putting her hand on the doorknob and making the same motion to open it.

"Go away."

She hesitated, then swung the door open and stepped into the darkened room. "I will go away eventually but I wanted to speak with you Gaz because you also came to speak with me a lot when I was upstairs and I have not yet had a chance to speak back with you."

The door closed behind her. Remara cast a soft orange light that barely reached her surroundings. The only other light came from a small screen, reflecting off an angry looking face. The screen made strange noises as Gaz fiddled with it. "What makes you think I want to talk to you now?"

"It was never a problem before and I wanted to ask you something now that I am able to."

"Fine, ask your stupid question and get out."

"Why don't you tell Dib about them?"

The screen fell silent as Gaz turned her face toward her. "Because. He wouldn't. Care. And even if he did. There's nothing he can do."

"You say that but you've never tried asking him have you so you don't really know maybe there is something he can do."

"The only thing he cares about his stupid obsessions with stupid paranormal things like ghosts and aliens and walking hunks of glass, he doesn't see anything or anyone else." She turned her face back to the screen. "If you were normal he'd look right through you too."

Remara studied her half-lit face. "Dib is going to take me to Skool soon and you two go to the same Skool if what you have said to me in the past is correct and I want to know what is a class that you are in so I may also take one class with you?"

"Do you even know what a class is?" Gaz grunted.

"It is a short period of time set aside for learning a specific facet of human existence from what I understand after hearing the two of you."

"What if I don't tell you what classes I have?"

"Then I will ask Dib and I will tell him that I want to take a class with you because I am worried about you and not because I am interested in that class and he will wonder why I am worried about you and he will ask lots of questions that you seem to not want answered for reasons I cannot understand."

Gaz shot her a glare from half-lidded eyes. "You know that kind of worry is what's going to get you killed. This world doesn't do well with things like you. You should have stayed in the attic."

Remara tilted her head to the side, still staring at Gaz.

"You can take art with me." Gaz stared down at the screen. "Third period, right before lunch. Now get out of here." She glanced up once more for half a second before averting her eyes. "And do something about that hair. Hanging down like that you'll catch things on fire at Skool."


	9. The Deal that was Struck

The next day, Dib approached Skool like he was coming to a battleground. It was a battleground every day, but today he was re-engaging the enemy, and they would have to come to some terms. He hardly noticed Gaz peeling off to her classes as he entered his homeroom.

As he passed Zim's desk, he glanced at the alien. Zim's wig was slightly askew, and his eyelids sagged around the lenses. His temple throbbed slightly, and he seemed deathly intent on some schematic diagrammed on Skool notebook paper and laid out all over his desk. The schematic was labeled in all kinds of foreign lettering, and it would be so easy to snatch it and parade it in front of the class.

"One, they won't care," Dib muttered to himself, "And two, I need him ready to listen to me. Hey Spaceboy," He hissed, "Class is starting, roll up your stupid alien blueprint."

Zim jerked upright, scrambling to jam papers into his notebook and out of sight. He shot a somewhat confused glare at Dib, before turning his attention to Ms. Bitters, who had taken front and center.

"Now class," Ms. Bitters intoned, "We've been learning about the Black Plague, but clearly you aren't miserable enough to face the harsh realities of life. So turn to page 42, we're going to learn about the meaning of life as told by Neitzche."

Dib rolled his eyes, turning to the page and promptly tuning her out. He pulled up a piece of paper and began writing up a list. Ms. Bitters never checked to see if they were taking actual notes, and he needed to figure out what he was willing to barter.

An eternity later, the recess/lunch bell rang, and Dib collected his books and went to his locker, grabbing his lunch.

"Hey dorkhead," He heard from behind. "What's lunch today?"

Wordlessly, Dib handed it over his shoulder. The bag was snatched from his hand, and he could hear the contents dumped all over the ground. "Too good to eat from the cafeteria huh? Enjoy a nice mush sandwich?" _Squish_ went the contents of his bag, stomped into the ground by a set of cleats. He closed his locker, turning around to face the blow that sent him reeling into the lockers. At this point, it barely phased him, but he had to put on a show. "See you later, freak."

He rubbed his jaw. Okay, maybe it still hurt a little. He closed his locker, scraped the remains of the lunch off the ground, and disposed of it in the trash. He pulled a second bag from the inside pocket of his trench coat and walked to the lunchroom.

Zim was off at his own table, as usual, the papers all spread out again. He was making frantic markings all over the papers, muttering to himself. Dib paused, wondering if today was the best day. Zim seemed less stable than usual. He shook his head, pressing forward. He needed otherworld tech.

Zim banged his fist on the table, letting loose a foreign expletive and smashing his face into the papers. Dib blinked, then slowly slid into the seat across from Zim. "Rough day?" He remarked, poking a straw into his juice box and sipping.

Zim lifted his face, leveling a deathly glower at the boy. "I am not interested in your mockery today Dib." His voice was low and grating, and again Dib paused. This wasn't one of Zim's overblown threats. The alien was giving off serious danger signals, and Dib felt himself tense up.

He set his juice box down. "I'm not mocking you. I'm here to see if you're up for a trade."

"You?" Zim managed a snicker. "Have something the mighty Zim wants? Don't make me laugh fool."

"Actually I have a few things you want." Dib pulled out a piece of paper, flicking it open in front of Zim's face. "You can choose one thing for every thing I need from you."

Zim glanced briefly at the list, before grabbing it and peering more closely at it. The corner of his mouth lifted in a grudging grin. "So it seems you do." He folded his claws around the list, staring at Dib. "What exactly is it that you desire of Zim?"

"I need something small that can store great quantities of heat, and dispense it when needed, and AS needed, not all in one blast."

Zim frowned, tilting his head. "Why would you need such a thing?"

"Answers aren't on the list Spaceboy. It's just something I need, has nothing to do with you so you don't have to worry about it coming back to bite you."

"The device wouldn't bite, it would only hold heat so it would burn." Zim glared in exasperation, "Stop saying stupid things. I have no such thing, but it would be simple to make. I could have such a device by tomorrow."

"I need it charged full of heat already then."

"That will cost you—" Zim circled an item on the list, "Two full weeks of 'not bothering Zim under any circumstances even if all humanity were to be enslaved.' "

"I only said a week and a half!" Dib protested.

"Two weeks for charging it full of heat too." Zim annotated the line. "What else?"

Dib bit his lip. Two weeks was an awfully long time to leave the alien to his own devices, but it couldn't be _too_ bad. "Do you have anything like a skin-tight force field device? And it's not for me."

Zim set the paper down, eyes narrowing. "Dib, the first device doesn't sound like anything you could use against me without serious repercussions, but the second is something I would never hand over to my worst enemy. It's bad enough I'm willing to sell you Irken tech for a little peace of mind, but arming you against me is crossing the line."

"It isn't for me!" Dib insisted.

"Then who is it for?" Zim demanded.

"That's none of your business."

"It is if you want the device." Zim wrote on the paper. "That's my price for it, you tell me who this is going to."

Dib gritted his teeth. Would it really hurt? Zim would meet her tomorrow anyway if all went according to plan. And he didn't have to say much about her, and that way he didn't have to give up anything else on the list.

"Fine." He glared. "Just her name and species, understand?"

"Species?" Zim's eyes widened. "Done."

"Her name is Remara. She'll be coming tomorrow anyway, she's a Glass Flow, made of molten glass, but she's alive. That's all. Now will you give me the tech?"

Comprehension lit Zim's face. "The heat storage…" He looked down at the paper. "And the skin-tight force field. To contain her heat and allow her passage…" He grinned crookedly. "Why Dib, allowing a paranormal being to pass as human, uncharacteristically generous of you."

"She's not like you." He spat. "She's kind. She wouldn't hurt anyone if she could help it."

Zim rolled his eyes, tucking the paper into his PAK. "I expect you to follow the terms of agreement. I will have the items for you tomorrow. Now get out of my sight, I have important work to do." He crumpled up his designs, hurling them at the trash, and began sketching out a new diagram.


	10. The Quick Save

"So you got all that, Remara?" Dib stood in front of his door, hand on the knob, chewing his lip nervously. He'd been a bit surprised at the change in her appearance, but he had to admit the new 'hairstyle' had less chance of swinging low catching things on fire. Her hair now flared out and up in several small glass twists so that her head resembled a children's drawing of the sun. He couldn't help wondering if she'd gotten inspiration from his and Gaz's early artwork.

She nodded, repeating what he'd told her. "Keep in my clothes as much as possible and as soon as we get to the Skool take what the strange green person gives me and put it inside me and I should be okay and you're going to have to make a scene about me being strange and different because then everyone will never suspect that I am strange and different because nobody believes you."

"Exactly. If I shout about you being weird, they'll ignore you. Just follow me around all day and everything should be fine."

"Okay but I'm taking one class with Gaz because I have heard her speak about the art class and it sounds like something I would like to know about also."

"What? No, you gotta stick with me. You go off on your own and things could get dangerous fast."

"But Dib I would not be on my own I would be with Gaz."

"That's like being on your own."

She pulled her face into a frown. "I want to go to art class with Gaz Dib please let me or I will have to find my way by myself."

Dib made a frustrated grunt before throwing up his hands. "Fine, but not until tomorrow okay? Stick with me at least one whole day so I can get you used to going to and from classes."

"Agreed oh Dib this is going to be wonderful!" Her face lit up again, and Dib fervently hoped he was doing the right thing.

"Okay, so hold onto all the heat you have, and we'll get to Skool as fast as possible. Okay? Stay right behind me."

"Okay Dib." She readied herself. She had her pants over one arm, her legs melded together in her normal base. They had agreed that getting her to Skool as fast as possible was the most important thing as it would take most of her heat to get there. Dib was banking on the blindness of the world to keep her safe. He twisted the knob, opening the door as they both darted out.

Dib pumped his legs as hard as he could, and Remara flowed alongside keeping pace. He watched her out of the corner of his eye and she seemed to be doing well. As they drew closer to Skool however, the wind picked up and she began to slow. Dib slowed down with her, and was alarmed to see her colors beginning to dim. He noted her flow was more and more sluggish, and she struggled with motion as the wind cooled her.

"C'mon Remara, we're almost there, then stupid Zim will be able to heat you up. Just a little farther."

"Sssssooooooonnn?" She struggled on, the Skool just in sight. Dib swiveled his head back and forth between the Skool and Remara. At this rate, she wouldn't make it. "Keep moving," Dib encouraged, speeding up again. "I'm gonna go get that stupid alien and be right back."

He pelted ahead, scanning the front of the Skool for Zim. The alien was standing by the stairs, tapping his foot impatiently. "Hey Spaceboy!" Zim's head whipped up. "Spaceboy, she's slowing down, you gotta come! You got the heat thing?"

Zim strolled forward casually, tossing an orb in his hand. "I have your force-field thermal storage unit right here." Dib darted forward to grab it, but Zim jerked his hand back. "Not so fast!" He hissed. "I want to see this creature that Dib is so willing to allow to pass as human."

"Well hurry! She's slowing down!" Dib grabbed Zim's wrist, yanking him forward as he hurried back to Remara. He was alarmed to see the Glass Flow moving only a few inches at what was obviously a full run, and her edges were beginning to show clear.

Zim's eyes widened as he came to a stop in front of her. "Fascinating." He murmured, staring at her oddly. "Such a creature as this does not exist in any of our known databases, just on sight. Did she crash in your backyard?"

"No dummy, she's from our planet too, just deeper down, now give her the thing!" Dib shoved him, panicked.

"Do not touch Zim!" He shoved back, growling. "I will do things in my own time!" He took the orb, cradling it at the very tips of his claws, and pressed it carefully at the center of Remara's chest. It clanked off the hard, glassy surface and he frowned. "Too cold. Very well. Can it understand me at this speed?"

"Yes! Yes _she_ can!" Dib exclaimed in frustration.

"Then hear me, Glass thing." Zim held the orb up. "I'm going to turn it on and put this inside of you. This button here," he indicated one side. "This will dispense heat as you need it. I have already placed a great deal of thermal energy inside, but if you need to fill it again, just absorb as much as possible and direct it toward the device inside of you. This one over here," he indicated a button on the opposite side, "Will cover you in a force field so that you don't set anyone on fire or burn them. I'm turning it on now to get it inside of you, and you can praise Zim's amazingness afterward." Satisfied, he extended a robotic wire from his PAK to grip the orb and pushed the button.

The orb immediately flashed red-hot, sending a warm blast of air out as thermal energy escaped. Zim pressed it again at Remara's chest, and slowly it began to sink through the surface. Once it was sufficiently embedded, he stepped back, retracting the robotic wire.

Zim and Dib stepped back as the glow flared brightly, the orb sinking in deep and vanishing into the orange that now covered her whole form. She darted past them suddenly and pulled to a stop, whirling around with a giant smile on her face. "Oh Stupid Zim thank you so much Stupid Zim I have heard so much about you from Dib he's always talking about Stupid Zim but I had no idea you were so kind!"

There was one moment of silence before Dib dropped to his knees, howling and clutching his ribs. Zim turned, lashing out with a boot and kicking him hard in the side. Dib fell over, tears streaming down his face, still laughing uncontrollably.

Zim turned back to the Flow, eye twitching. "My name is Zim, do you hear me? You will refer to me as Zim, and nothing but Zim, because I am BRILLIANT and INGENIOUS and I AM NOT STUPID so you will refrain from calling me STUPID ZIM because I am ZIM, is that UNDERSTOOD?" He screeched, shaking a fist in her rather bewildered expression.

"Yes Zim I apologize I only thought that was your real name because I heard it so much." This sent Dib into another round of hysterics, and Zim added another vicious kick.

"Well it isn't!" He turned away, storming toward the Skool. "You're late, I hope Ms. Bitters sends you both underground. What a waste of my time."

"Thank you Zim!" She called, beaming. She turned to Dib as he finally sat up, rubbing his sides and gasping for air.

"C-c'mon Remara, we'd better g-get to class." He stood, groaning as he held his ribs. "Man he kicks hard. What are those boots, steel tipped? Owwww. Hey Remara, try touching the plant over there." He gestured at a nearby shrub.

She put out a hand, still covered by gloves, and grasped a handful of leaves.

"No no no." He reached over, pulling a glove off her other hand. She withdrew suddenly, her face blank. "Hey, look it'll be okay. Zim said he installed a force field, remember? Turn it on, and see if you can touch the plant."

Her head swiveled toward the shrub, still completely blank. Dib's grin faded. Why was she so afraid?

"You're sure?" Her voice was doubtful.

"Give it a try." He encouraged her.

Carefully, she reached out an uncovered tendril, touching just the barest tip to a leaf. It moved under the pressure, but did not burn. Didn't even discolor. Her face reappeared, mouth open wide, mimicking Dib's initial expression of shock as she wrapped a tendril around a handful of leaves, and nothing happened.

"See, the space bug's good for something. What do you thi-!" He took a step back as Remara turned on him, extending a hand and laying it against his face. He fell silent as her hand traveled across his features, her own still in complete shock. Soft cracking noises sounded from deep inside her. He wondered what it meant, but felt it best to keep his mouth shut for a minute.

"I… Dib…" For once she seemed to struggle to bring out words, and he wondered if the cracking noises were her equivalent of crying. "Thank… you. You don't… understand…" And she darted forward, closing her arms around him tightly.

Dib had often hugged the Glass Lady in his attic as a child, imagining her as someone to be defended, or as someone defending him. But he'd never imagined she'd be able to hug him back, especially once she'd heated up. He gingerly wrapped his arms around her as well, wondering if she'd ever hugged anyone before, or if she'd learned the motion from him while frozen.

Gingerly he pushed her back. "We really need to get to class, you don't wanna see Ms. Bitters when she's mad. Better put the pants and shoes on now and make legs. We're almost there."


	11. The Skirmish in the Hallway

"You're late, Dib." Ms. Bitters' brought a yardstick crashing down across Dib's shoulders as he attempted to sneak in. "What's your excuse this time, undead office workers or werebats?"

Dib yelped, rubbing his neck and shoulder. "No Ms. Bitters, sorry. I just saw the freakiest new student, I just _know_ she's not human!"

"New student?" Ms. Bitters frowned. "The front office didn't notify me. She'd better not be in my class-" The door swung open behind Dib, and Remara peered in.

"Excuse me is this the school class where you come to learn things about the world?"

Ms. Bitters shook her head slowly. "Yes, you poor doomed child. Dib, take a seat. And copy pages 5-27 by hand to turn in tomorrow for being late."

Dib fled to his desk and sat, gauging the reactions of the class to Remara as she carefully walked in, concentrating on her steps.

"Your name and a couple sentences about yourself." Ms. Bitters demanded.

"Oh hello I am Remara and I am here to learn about the world and how you live in it and what you can do and all the good things and bad things and if anybody would like a hug I can give hugs now today is the first time I have been able to do that and it makes me so happy I could just give one to everyone I hope you all know what a wonderful thing a hug is and to be able to give one thank you for having me in your classroom I promise I will learn everything I can about-"

Dib could already hear murmurs in the classroom. Something was weird about her, not quite right, why wasn't she breathing in between sentences? And who'd never had a hug in all their life before?

Dib leapt up on his desk, pointing dramatically as he interrupted the flow of words. "Look! I told you the new student was weird. Something's wrong, does she even _breathe_ when she talks? And she's orange! And GLOWING! SHE'S NOT HUMAN!"

Immediately the murmurs turned to groans, and every face dropped down to their textbooks, ignoring Remara. He bit his lip. He was playing them this time, but it never failed to hurt. It was even worse now that he knew could predict and manipulate this reaction. He glanced over to Remara, and she beamed at him, the soft sound of chimes tinkling in the room. For a moment he tensed. Was she laughing? At him?

Maybe laughing at their shared joke. He eased himself back into his seat as Ms. Bitters hurled threats at him, the hurt fading. He'd do it every day if it kept them blind to his friend.

As Ms. Bitters directed Remara to take the seat next to Dib, a paper ball hit his head. Frowning, he uncrumpled it.

**Truly amazing Earth-stink. I owe you thanks for providing such fantastic cover my first day. -Zim**

Dib crumpled the paper back up and threw it over his shoulder. The sting was back full force. _Stupid_ alien. He'd gotten good at digging his filthy claws right where it hurt worst, and Dib still had no clue if the alien even HAD any kind of emotional weakness to play off. He could be manipulated, Dib had seen it, but it usually had to do with his blind insanity or overblown pride. He wanted to make Zim _hurt._

His hands ached. He looked down to see his nails were digging into the palms of his hands. He couldn't touch Zim, not for two weeks now. He had to just stand by no matter what the creep did. He'd promised, and Remara needed that device.

He checked on her out of the corner of his eye. Ms. Bitters had placed a raggedy textbook on her desk, and she was studying it intently. She'd come to the end of the page and brought up a hand to turn it, hesitating for a moment, before flexing her fingers and slowly grasping the edge of the page. Her whole face lit up as nothing happened, and she turned the page over.

It bothered Dib. Her reactions to being able to touch things wasn't normal. Normal wasn't the right word, of course it was normal given what he knew of her. But the depth of joy it gave her to do something as simple as turning a page indicated more had happened than what she would tell him, and she was keeping secrets. Whenever he'd asked about what happened before he found her in the attic, she clammed up. He could make a few guesses, but he was probably wrong. He couldn't ask anyone else, his father claimed all the things in the attic had always been there. Maybe eventually she'd open up enough to tell him.

A beeping from the other side of him drew his attention a few desks down. Zim was peering at some readout or another on a datapad that was clearly no Earthly device. Dib repressed the urge to draw attention to it, although he couldn't help wondering what Zim was staring so intently at. It was the most alert he'd seen Zim lately. Come to think of it, Zim had been off his game for a few weeks. He'd just been so distracted with Remara. He kicked himself. What a time to promise Zim peace of mind!

Someone was talking. His head jerked up. How long had he been in his own thoughts? Remara was addressing Ms. Bitters, asking some long-winded question. Ms. Bitters was staring at her like she was a cockroach stuck on its back, flailing useless little legs. He hadn't heard, what was she asking? She'd just ended, staring at Ms. Bitters like she expected an answer.

The next moment, the bell rang. Dib thanked the constellations as he leaped up and grabbed his books. "Come on Remara, next class."

"But she didn't answer my question!"

"Be grateful, you're not supposed to ask questions in this class."

"But then how am I supposed to learn?"

"I'll help you later, right now we gotta move!"

…..

By lunchtime Dib was exhausted. None of the teachers were as bad as Ms. Bitters, but the questions Remara had been asking… they just had to be distracted from.

"Why is George Washington so important and what is a president and why is he on top of so much water in this picture in the book why would anyone want to be on top of so much water?"

"Why is Johnny taking apples away from Sarah and why isn't anyone telling him to stop he already has eleven apples he doesn't need four from her."

"Why does the human body need so many things inside to make it work why doesn't it just have one or two things or not at all it just needs to be itself how do you even fit all those things inside and all humans have the same amount of things inside so how are the things the same in a little tiny human and a bigger human?"

Dib had worn himself out throwing fits about Remara's inhumanness, and every time he could see Zim's smirk grow. But with lunch he'd have a chance to collect himself at least, and try and explain to Remara why she should save her questions for him at home. He tapped her on the shoulder and gestured for her to follow him. He paused at his locker to grab his lunch sack when a familiar shadow fell over him. He cursed, how could he forget?

"Hey dumbbell, what's lunch today?"

He hadn't brought a spare lunch. He'd been careless, and now he'd have to go hungry. Angrily he grabbed his lunch sack, waiting for it to be snatched from his hands.

"Who's your girlfriend?" The voice sneered.

He whipped around. Remara was still right there, following him like he'd wanted, watching the proceedings with an unsure expression on her face.

"Sh-she's not my girlfriend," he stammered. "She's some weird student transfer who's not even human. Probably in league with Zim."

"What's with the hairdo?" The kid reached out, tweaking a twist of glass from the flares pointing out from her head. "She looks like she came outta some kindergarten. Did your mommy do your hair?"

Dib's whole body was tense. Remara looked up, troubled. "I do not have a mother here I did my own hair why are you speaking like this your face and your tone of voice do not sound happy it sounds like…" her voice faded away.

"Sounds like what? Dang, what's with the glow? Are you radioactive?" A crowd was starting to gather, staring and whispering. "What's with these clothes, you look like a thrift store reject."

At this, she brightened. "Oh the clothes are fireproof and it was a wonderful gift from my good friend-"

"Santa Claus!" Dib blurted. "I saw Santa dropping clothes down for her on my way to school, as he was flying overhead!" He hardly knew what he was saying but she could NOT finish that sentence, not if he had to keep covering for her. He stalked over, grabbing her arm. "I'm just going to sit with you at lunch. Make sure you don't melt the place down or scheme with Zim."

"Just a minute dork," The kid grabbed her other arm. "We ain't done yet."

Remara's features started to fade as she tried to pull away from the kid. "Let go of my arm please I do not like this."

"What are you gonna do about it?" He sneered.

"She's not going to do anything." A cold voice froze the kid. "The real question is, what are you gonna do with no liver once I'm through with you?"

The kid dropped Remara's arm, backing away quickly. The crowd had already parted, revealing a short purple-topped stack of cold rage.

"That's what I thought." Gaz stalked over, tilting her head up at Remara coolly. "What's your name?"

Remara blinked, and glanced at Dib, whispering far too loudly, "She says she does not know my name is this is like the pretending you do?"

Dib smacked himself in the face, but everyone was too focused on Gaz to question Remara.

"Dib, what's her name?" Gaz asked impatiently.

"Remara." He muttered. "She's an alien from outer space probably, look, she glows." His voice was worn and flat.

"Fantastic. Let's keep an eye on her in the cafeteria, make sure nobody does anything stupid." Gaz grabbed Remara's arm and the two of them all but dragged her to the lunch room.

* * *


	12. The Danger from the Past

"Dib what was he doing and why was he acting like that and is he one of the ones you come home talking about who does cruel things to you?" Remara demanded.

Dib guided her to a corner cafeteria table and sat across from her, massaging his temples. "Yeah Remara, he's one of them. They're called bullies, and they're just stupid kids who like making other kids miserable. Really though, all the kids here like making _me_ miserable, so maybe the label doesn't matter. Look, just follow my lead and stay away from them. You've been making it really hard to cover for you all day. None of the questions you're asking are something a human would ask… or at least not one raised here."

"Of course they're not Dib how could I ask questions a human would ask without being a human of course they're all wrong but how else am I supposed to learn?" Remara flared as she spoke, her glow brightening. "Isn't that why I'm here to learn how to be human?"

"No." Gaz sat next to Remara, fishing out her game. "You're here cause Dib was too stupid to think this far ahead and figured you could just 'pick up' how to be human. He didn't think that, oh I don't know, you probably need more background and maybe some coaching before full on exposure."

"I know what I'm doing, Gaz!" Dib snapped. "I don't need you telling me what I'm doing wrong." He ran a hand through his hair. "What I need is a way to explain to Remara that she can't just walk around asking questions here!"

"But this is where I'm supposed to ask questions according to what you say about skools!" Remara protested.

"Yeah that's the ideal but the reality doesn't match up. Here." He dug a notebook and pen out of his backpack and handed them over. "Why don't you write down all your questions and at the end of the day I'll answer them all at home."

She stared at the pen and paper, making no move to take them.

"Hey genius," Gaz sniped, "Don't suppose you thought to ask if she even knows how to read and write?"

"I know how to read," Remara said softly, "but I have never written."

Dib dropped his face to the tabletop with a loud _thwack_. "You know what, fine. I don't care. I just don't."

"Hey, new girl!"

Dib's head snapped back up, scanning the cafeteria. The gaggle at the popular girls table were staring at them. Jessica waved an arm lined with more jelly-bracelets than he could count.

"New girl, c'mere! What are you doing at the loser table anyway?"

"Now do you believe this was a bad idea?" Gaz growled at him. "She'll go over and blow her cover, and if she doesn't, they'll come here."

"Go on over to them, Remara." Dib whispered. "Just don't ask too many questions, and if they laugh start laughing too. Just remember, you're human. You have to pretend you know about things even if you don't. And don't say I gave you anything or am your friend. I can only help you here if they think I'm your enemy."

Remara gave him an odd look, but stood from his table and carefully stepped her way over to Jessica.

"Hello I am Remara what is your name?" Remara smiled, and Dib thanked every constellation he knew that he could still hear what was going on.

"Jessica. Hey listen, the girls and I just like wanted to welcome you to Skool, since you're new and all." The group behind her tittered in agreement. "And we, like, just wanted to know where you got your clothes."

"My clothes?" Remara touched her dingy flameproof shirt. "My clothes were a gift from a kind friend who helped me when I needed help."

Dib exhaled slowly. She was doing alright. He heard a loud crack, and glanced over to see Gaz gripping the table. The plastic under her hands had split.

"You might wanna, like, ditch the friend if that's their fashion sense." Jessica snickered.

"I don't understand what you mean." Remara blinked.

"Honey, this is just some friendly advice, but if you don't upgrade your clothes like stat, you're gonna end up like those rejects in the corner." Jessica jerked her thumb at a darkened corner where a group of morose-looking children sat. "Or that freaky kid Dib and his sister, with no friends at all. I don't know why you're sitting with them to begin with. Isn't Dib like the one calling _you_ a freak anyway?"

Remara turned her head toward Dib, and he could see she didn't know what to do or say. He couldn't interfere now. "C'mon Remara," he muttered, "Say I made you sit with me. Say I'm weird, just do it."

"Dib is yelling many things about me but that is why I am interested in fact I sat down with him so I could ask him what he thinks about me and explain more about myself."

Dib blinked. _What is she doing?_

"Well 'Mary," Jessica sighed, tossing her hair, "If you wanna hit the bottom of the social ladder fast, be my guest. But if you wanna climb, I'd start sitting with us really soon. The 'loser' is already rubbing off on you. Seriously, ditch the garbageman getup."

Once again, the girls behind her laughed. Remara attempted a faltering laugh, but failed, then turned and stumbled back to Dib's table, sitting down. The crack under Gaz's hand had spread most of the way down the table, and she growled, "Those no-good slovenly pack of primping-"

"Gaz." Dib cut her off. "C'mon. Nice cover Remara, but you really should've said I made you sit with me or something. You're not supposed to be my friend here."

"Why not?" Remara's eyes narrowed. "Dib I do not understand this ladder she speaks of or the fashioning or anything else except that she doesn't like you or Gaz or those children over there very much and she laughs but it doesn't sound right none of their laughing sounds right and you ARE my friend Dib I do not like this pretending that I'm not!"

Dib stared over at her, sagging in his seat. How was it he felt more tired over this than any day he'd spent chasing Zim?

Gaz stood abruptly. "Lunch is almost over," she announced, "and obviously Dib needs a break from his brilliant plan, so you're coming with me." She jerked her head, indicating for Remara to follow. "Time for art class."

….

Remara and Gaz sat together at one segment of an empty circle table. The other tables were all filled, and some were even uncomfortably crowded, but Gaz's table remained empty. Gaz had a sketchbook open, one arm shielding her work and the other furiously scribbling. Remara's sketchbook lay blank in front of her, and she stared at it uncertainly.

"Pick up the pencil and do something." Gaz muttered. "The teacher will get suspicious."

"I don't know how to do what you are doing especially because you won't let me see." Remara whispered.

Gaz rolled her eyes. "Yeah well you don't get to. The teacher gets to just so I can pass the class, but nobody else. Drawing probably isn't your thing anyway if you don't even know how to write. Hold up a sec." She closed her pad and made her way to the front of the class. Grabbing a crappy looking figurine off his desk, she returned, dropping it in front of Remara. "Here. I bet you're into sculpting. Make his award nicer or something."

Remara peered at Gaz. "How would you know what I like doing?"

"Call it a hunch." She returned to her sketch. "You could never touch paper and pencil before, but I bet you could touch metal. Besides, if you're holding a form you're mimicking, you're probably good at copying in some form, and if not paper, probably something moldable. Like metal. Am I right?"

Remara stared down at the figure. "I used to make little statues all the time for my friends."

Gaz opened one eye slightly wider, peering at Remara, before returning her attention to her own work again. "Yeah, what did you make 'em?"

Remara shifted the device inside herself, allowing some heat to escape through her hands into the award. "Little figures to make them smile or remind them of things they needed reminding of and sometimes I would make windchimes and I miss them."

"Who are they anyway? You never said anything about friends."

"When I first came up I found a place that kept me safe and had many other strange creatures that are not like you at all but also not like me and it was a wonderful place but I…" her hands worked the award, now a glowing metal lump in her hands. "I had to leave for some reasons and so I miss them but I do not think it is wise to go back now."

"Did they kick you out?" Gaz asked.

"No no they would never do such a thing they loved me very much but I think if I went back to them I would be in danger."

"Is danger going to follow you to us?" Gaz asked tersely.

Remara was silent as she molded the metal.

"Remara?"

"I don't know." She murmured.

"What's the danger Remara?"

Remara's features vanished as her fingers moved faster and faster. "Gaz please do not ask or speak of it it will not affect you it cannot affect you they are not a danger to you or any human they can't be so please do not worry about it I'm sure the danger is over please Gaz I do not wish to speak of it."

Gaz scowled at her art, ripping it out and crumpling it up. "You have to talk about it sometime dummy. If for no other reason than Dib will never shut up about it. If you've dropped any clues around him, he'll keep digging until he finds out, since you're the new interesting thing."

Remara glanced at Gaz from the side, her features re-surfacing. "Do you always speak to each other with so much anger?"

"Yeah whatever." Gaz muttered, starting fresh. "If you had a brother you'd know what it's like."

"I did have a brother and we did not speak to each other like that at all."

"Yeah, well how did you talk to each other then, rainbows and butterfly farts?" Gaz groaned in disgust.

"I do not know what that means but he called me Luak Ohoyo which he said means Fire Maiden in his first language and he was very kind and considerate to me and he made a lot of jokes on people but I asked him to be sure he never forced me to be part of a joke that would hurt someone and he got very serious and swore he would never do that and always treated me with so much warmth and I wish I could go back and be there because now I could actually hold him." Small cracking sounds echoed off the stained walls, and the students began looking around.

"Keep it down." Gaz ordered. "So this brother of yours wasn't the same as you?"

"No he said he was Bhopoli and I do not know what that means but he was very small." Remara made a gesture indicating a couple of feet or less.

"Is he in danger from what you're in danger from?" Gaz asked. When Remara shook her head, Gaz pressed, "So why can't you go back?"

Remara stared down at the form in her hands, pulling the heat out of it until it was a cold piece of metal again. "Because maybe here the danger doesn't know where I am or how to find me or has forgotten me and maybe I can just live like that and not have to worry about the danger again."

The bell rang, and Remara stood. "I should return to Dib's classes perhaps we can talk again later or if you are too busy then tomorrow at the next class goodbye Gaz and do not worry about it please you are not in any danger." With that, she hurried out of the room.

Gaz glanced down at the form Remara had sculpted. It was a limber-limbed four legged creature with terribly sharp claws and two whiplike tails. Its slender frame built to a horse-like head with long ears, and two great batlike wings spread from its back. It looked like a professional sculpt straight from a D&D game, and briefly Gaz wondered how much she could get for it.

Instead she picked it up and brought it over to the teacher. Someone had to get some more metal in here before Remara started sculpting the table legs, and an impressed teacher was her best shot.


	13. The English Assignment

Dib wound his fingers into his hair, tugging hard at the stringy black clumps. He wasn't sure how much more he could take of this. Herding Remara through day-to-day Skool life was more exhausting than he bargained for.

"Why do the teachers make strange faces when I ask them questions and then tell me to go to the principal's office and then get angry at me when I don't know where that is?

"Why do they laugh at the clothing I have it covers me the same as it covers them so I do not understand what is so funny about it."

"Why does that one human keep pushing you and making you give him food I have seen him eating other food so I know he does not need yours too in fact most of the time he just throws it away why does he do that?"

"Dib that flat thing that flies around home with the picture of a man on it isn't he important to you can't he change what happens at Skool and why don't you tell him what's happening?"

And those were just questions she would come up with on the way home. Once they got back, it broke down to the most basic homework she'd never been taught.

"Dib why are the numbers and the letters together supposed to make more numbers?"

"What is an essay and what do I say about Rosa Parks when I've never met her can I go meet her Dib where does she live?"

"Dib this cold box full of food in the kitchen has metal on it can I use it for my art assignment?"

As the first week passed, Dib found himself excusing himself from the basement earlier and earlier, claiming he had to work on his own homework and projects, asking if she needed anything else, and saying he'd see her the next day. It was impossible to miss the crestfallen look on her face every time he left, but he just turned his head quickly, pretending he hadn't seen it.

He had to, he told himself. Zim was still being really weird. The alien wasn't making _any_ threats, and even though he was leaving Zim alone like he promised, Dib still kept up a steady surveillance on him. He was doing something, working on some new project, but he couldn't tell what. Mostly, Zim was just looking at a lot of readouts in that stupid alien language he still hadn't cracked, and laughing. He had to figure out what Zim was up to. There was still one more week where he couldn't break into Zim's base or harass him, and Zim would probably wrap his scheme up before then. He had to be stopped.

As for Remara, he had no idea what to do about her. He hated thinking it, but maybe Gaz was right. Maybe he'd been too hasty and hadn't thought things through enough. Maybe there wasn't a place for a creature like Remara. Was that part of why she'd been frozen in the first place?

Monday night of the second week, he was just heading for the stairs when he paused, glancing over his shoulder. "Hey, we worked on your math and history today, no English?"

"I do not need help with English today Dib I understand the story perfectly well." She lifted a copy of Romeo and Juliet.

"Really? That's a first. I'd have thought Shakespeare would throw you for a loop."

"Their words are strange but the intent is clear." Her words were shorter, clipped even, as she sat back against the wall and opened the book.

"Oh yeah? What's the story about then? Pop quiz." Dib grinned.

"The story is about two families who are fighting for some silly stupid reason that nobody ever explains to the children and then the children are expected to continue the war the families started and when they decide to want to be together forever the families are angry and many people die because the families don't want to stop the fighting and eventually even the children die."

Dib was startled at the bitterness in her voice. "Well, I'd never heard it told quite like that. I mean, usually it's all about the love tragedy."

"The only tragedy is the family war that draws so many people into it and kills them." Remara's features were smooth, but her voice rose in pitch.

"Did you ever lose someone you loved?" Dib hedged.

"No." Remara pulled the book closer. "I have never been in the love like that and do not ask me questions like that Dib I told you I do not want to talk about what happened before."

Dib's shoulders tightened, rising a bit. "Well you're awfully eager to ask me questions about every little nuance of my day and my life, but I don't get any answers from you at all! How fair is that?"

"What answers do you give me Dib you don't give me any answers that you don't feel like answering you just leave me to try and figure it out myself and I'm SUPPOSED to be asking you questions so you can teach me how to be human but being human must have an awful lot to do with not answering questions that make you uncomfortable so I guess I'm doing a really good job then aren't I?"

Dib stared at her for a moment, before turning on his heel and stalking up the stairs, slamming the door hard behind him. Gaz stood there, arms crossed, eyes squinted hard. "Nice going, jerk."

"Shut up, Gaz. You don't know anything about it."

"Neither do you, apparently." She reached for the knob, but Dib slapped her hand away.

"Don't bother. She's in some kind of mood. There's no poin-t!" He found himself yanked far too close to Gaz's face by his collar.

"Yeah, she's in some kind of mood. Who put her in that mood, Dib? Who decided to re-animate her and then neglect her when it started getting hard? It's been just over a week. A WEEK, Dib! She's not a plant! She's not even a puppy! She needs more help than your stupid face is giving her!"

"She's not human! And she never will be." He jerked away from her, straightening his glasses. "She'll never fit in, okay? You were right, and I was wrong, and now I have to figure out how to fix the situation. I hope you're happy that you were right!" He stormed up to his room, steaming. This whole thing was turning out to be a complete disaster. He didn't want to freeze Remara again, but the only alternative at this point was keeping her in the basement forever.

At least if she was frozen, he wouldn't have to see the disappointment in her face anymore.

…...

Gaz crept down the stairs, squinting in the glaring fluorescent light. An unformed blob of glass huddled by the boiler, a dog-eared copy of Romeo and Juliet lying nearby on the floor. Quietly, Gaz approached, picking up the book.

"Don't mind him. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't really have a good humanity teacher either."

"Who's supposed to teach him?" the blob whispered.

"Dad. The guy you see on the floating screen. But he's never around. I don't think he likes looking at us, makes him feel guilty."

"Guilty for what?"

Gaz shrugged, sitting nearby. "Don't think he knows how to be a Dad. So it's easier to pretend he doesn't have to."

The blob shifted, pulling together into a small, single-base form with a head perched at the top and two tendrils hanging down from the sides. The head drooped. "He used to like all my questions but now he doesn't."

"You ask hard questions." She opened one eye a little wider, regarding the glass flow. "Most 'humans' don't think to ask that stuff. We just accept it 'cause that's how it is."

"Just because that's the way something is doesn't mean it should stay that way people get hurt when that happens!" Remara sizzled, sliding back and forth in a pacing motion.

"If this is about me, the bullies don't bother me anymore. I don't know how much you understood when I visited you in the attic, but these days I scare _them_."

"But why you shouldn't have to it isn't alright!" Remara wrapped her tendrils around herself, her features finally surfacing in a deep-set scowl.

Gaz watched her pace for a few minutes, before glancing down at the book in her hand. "So. Romeo and Juliet's families got you pretty upset, huh? What do you think they were fighting about?"

"If they're angry enough to kill then probably somebody killed somebody else and then they kept going until everybody was killing everybody." Remara kept her head down, flowing rapidly across the room.

"How do you think they could've fixed it?" Gaz's eyes followed her.

"There probably isn't any fixing it ever I'm sure Romeo and Juliet weren't the first ones who tried to reach out and fix things and they died so guess what probably happened sometimes there isn't any fixing it sometimes there's just running away because otherwise you get killed too even if you never wanted anything to do with the fight in the first place."

"Do you think that's possible? Someone running far enough away, from say, the Capulet family? You think they could be safe if they got far enough away?"

Remara stood stock still, eyes wide and fixed on the far wall. "I don't know if there is every far enough away the darkness is everywhere they may already know where I-where the Montague-person is and the Montague person wouldn't be able to know if they had been discovered or not until it was too late."

"Is the Montague person a killer?" Gaz asked quietly.

"Never!" Remara flared brightly. "The Montague person would never kill anyone she promised she wouldn't do that!"

"But the Capulets don't see that, I gather."

Remara sagged, putting her face in her hands.

Gaz walked over to Remara, taking her hands. Remara blinked, and Gaz realized this was the first time she'd actually touched Remara outside of dragging her somewhere on Skool premises.

"You're completely made of glass," Gaz stated flatly, "so I don't know how, but you're a lot more human than you know, and more than Dib can see right now." She pressed the book back into Remara's hands. "Don't give up. It's rough, and I think Dib's pointing you in the wrong direction, but you're on the right track. He's a jerk, but he means well." She turned on her heel, heading for the stairs. "See you in Art tomorrow. Don't know what your other teachers are saying, but you've got Mr. Elliot drooling over your projects, don't disappoint him."


	14. The Deadly Heat Wave

Tuesday morning, Dib dragged himself down to the kitchen, bracing himself for the usual barrage of questions. Remara stood by the fridge in her school outfit, clutching two paper sacks. He frowned, gesturing at them. "You don't eat, what's with the lunch?"

Remara held them out to him. "They are for you or more accurately one is for you to give the mean boy and make him think he has taken your lunch which is what you usually do and the other is really for you I thought I would save you some time and do it for you today so please take them with my apology for being so difficult."

Dib blinked. "Yeesh, what happened between last night and today?" He took the bags. "Thanks. So, ready for Skool?"

Remara tilted her head for a moment, then nodded. "Yes I am ready for Skool."

Dib had opted to walk over taking the bus since Remara had joined him, but every day had been filled with an endless stream of chatter and probing questions. Today a heavy silence stretched between them, and Dib found he had space to reflect on his thoughts.

Although he had no idea why Remara had snapped at him, he deeply regretted leaving her in anger. Remara had become fairly adept at reading emotions in the last week and a half, and there was no way he had not communicated his anger. And freezing her again? Had he really even considered that? He must have been exhausted, there was no way he could freeze the Glass Lady again. He'd lost count of her little touches to his arm, his shoulder, and his head. He had seen her touch Gaz's arm on several occasions as well. Whatever society she came from was a deeply sociable and physically affectionate one, and condemning her to an eternal freeze-framed life with no contact would be like sending her to hell.

Finally, he raised his head to say something, and found her staring intently at him as she kept pace. "Um… something on your mind, Remara?"

She shook her head. "I am doing Skool that is all do not pay attention to me."

Dib raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? We're not at Skool yet."

"You aren't but I am don't worry Dib you're almost there too."

"Almost there?" He turned his head. "Oh… the walk went by faster than usual, we're a little early." He glanced back at Remara. "You're usually talking up a storm, what's the matter?"

"Nothing is the matter I am only doing Skool the way I understand it now," she insisted, walking past him on carefully formed legs. "Hurry up or we will anger the scary teacher with our lateness."

Dib hurried after her, averting his eyes from the crude drawings and lewd accusations scrawled all over his locker. He couldn't cover the fact that he was friends with Remara anymore, but at least he'd blown enough smoke for them to accept her at the "weird outcast" level, and not regard her as anything more suspicious. He, however, took all kinds of flak over his "new girlfriend."

They passed by Zim on the way to their seats. Dib shot him the usual hateful scowl before taking a seat, and Remara gave a small wave. On most days Zim ignored them both in favor of his readouts, but today he waved back at Remara and returned Dib's scowl with a smug grin. His wig was on straight, his uniform was pressed, and his contacts were perfectly aligned. A prickle of unease traveled down Dib's arms, but his concern was interrupted by the arrival of Ms. Bitters.

"Alright class, pull out your textbooks. Today we are going to learn about the mass graves of innocent people that this country was founded on."

Dib braced himself for the inevitability of Remara's hand shooting up.

"In 1942 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, but what your history books gloss over is what happened to the unfortunates he met when he landed."

Ms. Bitters continued droning on, and Dib could hardly believe his ears. She had been talking for nearly thirty seconds without an interruption from Remara.

Thirty seconds became five minutes. Then ten. Then half an hour. Dib found himself staring at Remara who, in turn, was staring at the student next to her. She would turn, occasionally, to watch Ms. Bitters, before turning to another student and watching them for several minutes, copying their facial expressions. Sometimes she would turn all the way around in her seat and stare uncomfortably at the student behind her, but the class was used to ignoring her by now, and Ms. Bitters didn't care. In fact, her monologue was slightly less despair-inducing without Remara's daily ten or fifteen interruptions.

On the way to the next class, Dib asked her again what she was doing and what her problem was, to which she insisted, "I am just doing Skool Dib please do not worry about anything it will be alright."

As the day wore on, Dib began to understand. Remara was no longer paying attention to the teacher at the front of the class, going on about things she could never hope to comprehend on such short notice. He could see by the expressions she practiced and the words she mouthed to herself that she was, instead, making every class a learning session centered on human interaction, facial expressions, and word usage.

Maybe, he allowed as he joined her in the walk toward the cafeteria, her trips to Skool would be better spent this way. She wouldn't be using information on the Bubonic Plague to survive, but learning how people responded to each other would be essential.

As Remara entered the cafeteria, she paused, searching the room.

"Looking for anyone? Gaz is over there." Dib pointed at their usual bench.

"Did you hear something?" Remara asked, pensive.

Dib snorted. "Yeah, three dozen cases of incurable idiocy wasting oxygen with each other."

"No. Did you hear something else?"

Dib tensed. Remara never paused in the middle of a sentence like that. Something had her on edge for sure. "What exactly is it that you heard?"

Remara continued scanning the room, back and forth. "Something like whispering. Just like…" She trailed off, hunching her shoulders up to her neck. "It is likely nothing let us join the Gaz."

Dib frowned, but chose not to pursue it. Maybe if he backed off she'd open up. He noted how close she sat to Gaz, as if seeking protection, and sat opposite the two. Gaz wasn't objecting to the glass flow's proximity. Perhaps Remara had opened up to her. If he could pull her aside, in private, maybe she would tell him what was going on with Remara.

Remara kept looking around, her eyes growing rounder and her mouth smaller with every turn of her head. "Dib you are very very certain that you cannot hear anything like a loud whisper?"

He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his smartphone. It hadn't been hard to mod the hardware and software into a general scanning device. He was extremely proud of this piece of tech and all the measurements it was capable of processing. "What's the whisper saying?" he asked, running a general scan and setting the phone on the table.

"Leave," she croaked.

Gaz pressed two buttons on her GameSlave and shut it, pocketing the device. "Whatcha got, Dib?"

Dib nearly choked. Gaz never cared about his obsessions, why was she asking now? "Um… air pressure is a lot lower than normal. Temperature is dropping, but really slowly, and it looks like it's centralized in our area. Wait, no… it's…" He peered at the phone. "Weird. It's like there's a circle of colder air just around us, but temperature is rising right over…" His eyes widened. "Remara, get out."

"What?"

"You have to get out!" He bolted up, grabbing Gaz and dragging her across the table.

"Dib, what sort of suffering are you begging for-" Gaz's threats shut down when Dib rolled up her sleeve. Her arm was bright red.

"The side of your face too. Remara, you have to get outside, your shield is down!"

Remara turned to flee, but hesitated. It was the middle of lunch, and people were milling about and pressed in close all around. Anyone else could push through, but she would be hurting everyone she bumped into. The plastic bench she sat on began to sag, and Dib knew they were running out of time.

"You'll have a few seconds, make for the window!" he ordered. "Right there, I'll draw their attention!" He darted for the opposite side of the room, climbed up onto a table, and screamed, "Hey everyone, look at me! I've lost my mind! Bigfoots aren't real, and Zim is a normal person, haha!" He flipped onto his head and hooted like a howler monkey.

Every head in the cafeteria turned his way in shock. Remara flowed right out of her clothes, up the wall, and out the window, leaving a clear burn-trail behind her. Gaz was already pushing her way toward the emergency exit, and Dib followed close behind, a wave of whispers in his wake.

No alarm sounded as they burst through. The school hadn't had enough funding to fix the door for decades and everyone knew it. Dib tracked the burn mark as it progressed across the playground, alarmed at the amount of heat she had to be generating to leave such a mark on a blacktop surface. The trail ended at the high brick wall which surrounded the playground. Remara had already flowed half-way up.

"Hey!" he called, and she slid back down. He took a few steps closer. "Hey, turn your device back on!"

"I can't!" she poked herself again and again. "I've been trying but it doesn't turn on it is only off and it is doing something else and I don't know what it is or how to stop it and Dib the voice is talking to me now really loudly and-"

A black shape materialized between the Membrane siblings and Remara. A limber four-legged creature stepped out of thin air, the claws at the end of each slender appendage clicking loudly against the blacktop. Large, horse-like ears swiveled toward Remara, who flattened herself against the wall and began babbling.

"Please no I promise I don't want anything to do with the fight please don't hurt me I just want to live quietly away from all this please don't tear out my core please I've never hurt a Wraith and I'm never going to please-"

 _Silence._ The creature's muzzle never moved, but the single word hung perfectly formed in his mind. Remara fell silent, and Dib knew she had heard this creature the same way.

"What do you want?" Gaz snarled next to him.

The creature turned its head toward them, regarding his sister with moon-white eyes. _You must leave now._

"We're not going anywhere without Remara!" Gaz took a step closer, fists clenched. "And if you are what I think you are, you're not getting a step closer!"

Dib opened his mouth, ready to demand answers of anybody, when the creature spread two wings wide, opening its eyes to their fullest. _LEAVE NOW. GET INSIDE._

Gaz crumpled against him, clinging to his arm. He grabbed her arm, his legs already propelling him backwards step by step. His adrenaline levels had risen dramatically, and as the creature stared at him, all he could think about was how every monster he'd ever disturbed was about to burst through the ground under his feet and drag him to some pitch black underworld where they'd strip the flesh off his bones bit by bit.

The creature swung its head around to assess a nearby slide, then vanished. The adrenaline faded, but the images remained. Dib could hardly believe what he'd just seen. "Remara!" he called, reaching out. "What was that-" He froze, staring at his hand. It was lobster-red.

"Dib what is happening?" Remara pressed herself hard against the wall. "I am not doing this why is it happening the button does not make it stop!"

"Of course it doesn't." Zim stepped out from behind the slide, a smug grin on his face. "I built that technology with a remote control override. Fascinating friend you found, Dib-stink. Right now, I think it's time to field test my new weapons system."

Dib grabbed Gaz's arm and plunged for the Skool as a heat wave rolled over them. Nearby trees began to shrivel and smoke.

"Make it stop!" Remara screamed. "Make it stop now!"

Dib sagged against the door, his trench coat beginning to smoke as well. Sweat dripped off him, evaporating with a sizzle on the blacktop. He wanted to get them inside, but found he couldn't lift his arms. He sagged to the ground, tilting himself to fall on top of Gaz. Maybe he could provide a little shielding.

She wasn't moving. Was she breathing? He couldn't tell.

"Please I will do anything to make it stop!" Remara's voice sounded far off, was he losing consciousness? He had to be, he couldn't make out what Zim was saying. But it was so hot. Maybe if he just closed his eyes for a few minutes...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shade Wraiths are the sole property of Embodiedspirit who has been kind enough to loan them to me for this fic. They and I kind of interwove these two species' history together a few years back, and I'm so excited to work this out as a story, even if it's taking forever on my part...


	15. The Ultimatum

"Dib! Dib!" Remara pressed herself as far against the wall as she could, but even from across the playground she could see he wasn't moving. Neither was Gaz.

Zim marched toward her, grinning. She didn't understand why he was grinning, didn't he understand the suffering he was forcing her to cause? "Now that those pests are out of the way, I'll need you to come with me."

"What are you talking about I'm not going anywhere with you STUPID Zim!" She shouted, using the word that had angered him before. She wanted to make him upset, then maybe he would leave again.  
But he didn't shout or leave. In fact, his grin only widened. "Of course you're coming with me. Don't you see? It's the only way to keep from hurting anyone else."

"You're the one making me hurt people make it stop!" She shifted the thing he had given her, preparing to eject it from her body, but hesitated. "What…" As the thing shifted inside her, so did her Core. Whatever Zim had given her, it was latched on tight. "Make it let go!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, can you not take it out?" Zim came to a stop in front of her, idly dusting off his shirt. "Would removing it right now be a problem for you?"

Remara quavered. Pulling out a Core was instant death. The Core held her existence. Her experiences. Her thoughts. Her emotions. And this Stupid Zim had locked his heat thing onto it.

"I did some research this week. What I discovered about you was very informative, I appreciate your cooperation. Now, you're only going to keep getting hotter and hurting more people, so I suggest you come with me so I can make it stop." Zim turned on his heel to walk off.

Remara darted forward, wrapping tendrils around his arm, crying, "I'll burn you if you don't stop hurting them!"

Zim turned his head slowly, inspecting his arm. "Well, would you look at that. Zim isn't as stupid as you think. Foolish glassworm, did you think I would come near you without my own protective shielding? You aren't even touching me. You're holding a skintight barrier, much like the one I so graciously granted you. Time is running out for the Dib."

Remara turned back to Dib. His skin was bright red, and he was dripping water. She didn't know much about humans, but she'd never seen any of them give off that much water before.

If she went with Stupid Zim he would stop hurting Dib. But Stupid Zim might hurt her. He might pull out her Core or make her freeze. It was probably going to be painful. It would definitely be scary, and there wouldn't be someone there to make it less scary. She'd be on her own.

But Dib and Gaz were hurting now.

She stretched her tendrils toward her friend, wailing, "What do I do Dib you have to tell me what to do!"

"The Dib can't hear you," Zim taunted. "You have to choose."

Remara studied Dib. She saw the way he was draped over Gaz, between herself and his sister. She saw how he had tried to cover as much of Gaz as possible with his own body, taking the brunt of the heat. She saw, and she understood what Dib would tell her.

And she would do even better.

She turned to Zim, drawing herself up a few inches above him. He took a step back, tensing. She didn't understand this reaction, but pulled her face into a stern scowl. "Can you fix Dib?"

"Of course I can fix him, but I'm not going to. He can heal all by himself." Zim's claws twitched as he tilted his head slightly to look up at her. She saw that something she had done had upset him, but she didn't know why. She rose another inch, and his fists clenched.

_He doesn't like it that I'm taller than him._

She made an even angrier face. "You are going to fix Dib and his sister before we go."

"Or what?" Zim growled, baring his teeth.

Remara mimicked the facial expression, drawing a yelp of surprise from Zim. "Or I'm not going with you or anybody ever again." She reached a tendril around to the front of her chest and plunged it in, touching her Core. It didn't hurt, but Zim's eyes widened. "You want me to come with you well if you don't fix Dib I'm pulling this out and you can have your thing back and I'll stay here frozen forever and ever and you'll never be able to ask me questions or do whatever it is you want to do." She kept her face like his had been a moment ago, hoping he wouldn't catch the lie.

Zim shifted, glancing from her to Dib and back at her. "Alright fine!" he snapped, stalking over to them. "I can't believe I'm wasting precious Irken technology on a pathetic hyuman. He only has a half dozen or so decades in him anyway. There's no point." Still, he pulled something like a needle from the thing on his back and pushed it into Dib's skin.

"Fix Gaz too or else!" she shouted.

"Do not order your slave master!" Zim snarled, taking a second needle and shoving it viciously into Gaz's arm.

Slave master. Remara remembered them. They were in pictures in the book Ms. Bitters was cranky about all the time. They held long ropes and hit people. The people in the book had locks on them and looked very unhappy. Now she was going to be very unhappy.

But Dib would be okay, and Gaz too.

Zim turned back to her, and she shrank at the look on his face. He twisted something by his wrist, and the thing inside her stopped making extra heat. "You will come with Zim now and if I hear one more complaint out of you, I will make you regret it."

…..

"Wake up you idiot!"

Someone was slapping Dib's face. Everything hurt, and when he raised his arm to block the blows, his jacket cracked and crinkled.

"Wake up you moron! Failure! Stupid big-head! Wake up!"

When was Gaz ever hysterical? He opened his eyes. Gaz already had him by the collar and was shaking him.

"Don't ever do that again!" she shrilled, slapping him across the face. "What were you thinking? You could have died!"

Dib blinked, shaking his head slowly to clear it. Was she… no. She couldn't be. He dismissed it, rubbing his cheek. "What happened?"

"I don't know! I passed out when Zim started going on. Remara's gone, and so is Zim!"

Dib bolted to his feet, dragging Gaz up too. "You don't think…"

"He would, the little worm! Tell me you've got cams on him, Dib!"

"All over the wretch's base." Dib stormed toward the playground gate. "Come on, Gaz. We have to get to my room. He's not getting Remara without a fight."


	16. The Crazed Captor

Dib was safe, Remara reminded herself. Dib and Gaz were safe and as long as she kept her promise they would stay safe. With this in mind, Remara accepted every command Zim gave. When he told her to hurry up, she stopped focusing on the form of her legs and returned to her faster, flowing base. When he told her to get inside the strange green house, she did. When he told her to flush herself down the toilet in the kitchen, she first asked him how you flushed and what a toilet was, and then did exactly that. When he told her to go to the back of the room and stand on the little green platform, she held her questions about all the wires and screens and blinking lights everywhere, and went to stand on the little green platform.

Zim marched up to a desk with blinking lights all over it and pressed one. Suddenly everything was sort of green and harder to see. She reached out, trying to get Zim's attention, but her tendril curled back at her. She tried again, and again it stopped, pooling flat against something green and see-through. She turned to the right, but there it was again. In fact, all four sides of the green platform now had see-through green walls.

"Why do you need see-through walls what's wrong with regular walls?" she asked, pressing her tendril against it again.

"Obviously you take me for a fool," Zim snorted. "You'd burn straight through. Even metal containment units would only hold you for so long. No, no. Force-field technology, that's the best way to deal with your kind. It will keep you from damaging anything or anyone for now."

She didn't like the way he said "for now." She didn't like being held in one place by see-through walls. She didn't like the way he talked to her. She missed Dib and Gaz. Even cranky Dib would be better than this Stupid Zim and his blinky lights.

He pushed a few of the blinky lights, muttering to himself. "Such a mess, musn't have such a mess for the transmission. GIR! Get over here and clean up the…" Zim paused, clearing his throat. "Nevermind, GIR. You keep recharging. Invaders mustn't let themselves get lazy, even if it is common maintenance. Mustn't let the Tallests think anything sets Zim back." Zim nodded, grabbing a piece of cloth and polishing the buttons. "They will be so impressed this time, I just know it. They'll pick up this time."

Remara laid her head down on the platform, allowing her body to lose shape completely. It could be that it wouldn't be so bad here. If all she did was stay on this platform behind the see-through walls, at least she couldn't hurt anybody.

Still, staring at the see-through walls, she could just picture the drawings Dib and Gaz had tacked onto the basement walls for her. Her friends were safe and that was all that mattered.

….

Dib pelted up the stairs to his room, Gaz hot on his heels. Shedding his stiff, crackly trench coat, he leaped into his chair, sailing across the room to his desk.

Gaz stood next to him at the desk, fingernails digging into the particle board. "Hurry up, Dib!"

"I'm hurrying!" He'd never typed his password so fast before. He shut down all other programs so his computer wouldn't lag and pulled up all spycam links. "Okay, he's not in the upper level, so he's somewhere in the lower labs."

The image switched rapidly. Junk rooms full of boxes and forgotten parts flew by. Miserably screeching creatures in small wire cages. Half-finished robots and mechanical knick knackery. Zim preening in front of a screen.

"There!" Gaz pointed. "That one!"

Dib pulled up that cam. He could see Zim from behind. The alien stood in front of a large darkened screen, mumbling something to himself.

"Where's Remara?" Gaz hissed.

"Gimme a minute." Dib pulled the screen with Zim off to the side, opening a new window and searching the remaining spycams. "There! Same room, just behind him." He fell silent.

"What's wrong with her?" Gaz demanded, her voice rising as she slid off the bed and stalked over. "Why is she just a blob? What did that creep _do_?"

Dib held up a hand. "Just a second, Gaz. Zim hasn't had any time to do anything. He's just contained her. If she's like that, it's something she's doing. Not him."

On screen, Zim straightened himself, clicking his heels together and tilting his head back. "Computer!" he bellowed. "Call the Almighty Tallests!"

**D-d-d-di-a-a-l number two-one-two-two-hundred-and-fif-sixty-five. Point four. Earth to Massive The.**

Dib turned the volume up. "Hey, Gaz, did Zim's computer always sound like that?"

"How should I know? I'm not the one obsessively stalking that moron," Gaz sneered.

Ignoring her, Dib zoomed the camera in on Remara, or what he hoped was Remara. It had to be, he didn't know anything else that made a puddle of molten glass like that, even if it didn't look like the form he was used to. It didn't move or ripple at all, it just lay there.

**The Mass-the-Massive comp-p-p-puter f-f-firewall is still in p-p-place. By-stand for to leave message.**

"Wait!" Zim slammed his hands on the panel. "Are you telling me this is your two hundred and fifty sixth try and you _still_ haven't been able to break through with any of my messages? What am I _paying_ you for if all you do is break down when you come up against The Massive's firewall? Stop trying and _just break through!_ "

Dib's eyes narrowed. Pushing aside the two spycams, he pulled up a third window, typing in a command.

"What are you doing?" Gaz rose on her tiptoes to get a better look.

"One of those times Zim caught me, he just sort of forgot about me while he was busy with some other plan. I got really bored, and apparently the computer gets really bored too. We prank called Zim's leaders a few times, and when I asked how to contact them, it just handed me a chip. Let me see if…" Dib sat back, eyes wide. "Gaz, they haven't blocked me. I wonder what would happen if I rout it through Dad's number." He typed in a few more lines. "Nope. They haven't blocked Dad either. If we can get through, and any old Earth number can get through, but Zim can't, they specifically blocked him." Dib smirked. "I wonder what he did to get the cold shoulder."

His smile faded. "Wait, if he's got the cold shoulder, then Earth is safe. They've cut him off!" He gripped the computer screen. "Look at that! How didn't I see this? That room is a wreck! There's wires and parts all over the floor. His computer's barely talking, I bet it can only take simple commands now. And where is that dumb robot? It's usually around wrecking even more stuff."

Dib fished around on a third cam, flipping for images of GIR as Zim threw up his hands at the computer's stammering. He found GIR on the fifth try. The robot was laid out on a tiny bed, tucked under covers, fast asleep. Dib rolled his eyes. Classic GIR.

"Fine!" Zim snapped. "Leave another message if that's all you're good for!" He pulled himself upright and faced the giant monitor, which crackled with static for a few seconds before displaying a still image of Zim's leaders making a rude face at the camera. Wiggling his antennae, he pulled in a deep breath.

"Greetings, My Tallests. It seems there is still a glitch in my base's transmission system that prevents me from direct contact with you. Do not worry, this error will be rectified by the time I am ready to initiate my newest plan for the destruction of this miserable planet. But I know you are awaiting my report, so I will leave it here so that you will know I am doing my duty." He stepped aside, gesturing behind himself. "I have come into possession of a strange breed of Earthling. I have managed some research on this type, although very little is known of them, and it seems they have been here even longer than the disgusting ape-forms that currently spawn the planet's surface. Their scorching heat may be the key to cleansing the surface of its current inhabitants."

At that, the blob of glass rippled, drawing up into a more familiar form. The eyes formed wide and the mouth hung open. "What do you mean cleanse the surface?" she demanded.

"Silence!" Zim hissed. "Do not interrupt my report."

"What are you talking about I thought you told me Dib and Gaz would be safe if I came with you!"

"I knew that worm blackmailed her!" Gaz spat.

Zim gestured again at Remara. "As you can see, even the eldest species are quite gullible and easily manipulated. Learning their secrets and using them to burn the Earth's crust will be child's play. In fact, all I need is this one. I will report back on the day of the Great Cleansing so you may witness the glorious destruction of the planet." He bowed to the screen. "End of transmission."

As the monitor faded to black, Zim straightened and turned on his heel.

"You promised and you lied to me you lying stupid Zim!" Remara surged against the force field, sliding right back down. "You let me out I'm not going to do anything you say ever again you can't make me because you're a dirty liar who doesn't keep your word and I don't like you!"

Dib's eyes were locked on Zim's face. Something was wrong in Zim's face, but it wasn't new. It was the same thing that had been wrong for the last few weeks, but he hadn't been able to peg it. Dib's hand trembled on the mouse as he flipped back to the image of GIR. The robot wasn't asleep. Whenever that dumb tin can slept, he made sleeping noises so everyone knew how much sleep he was getting. He would snore, giggle at dreams, or make weepy noises at whatever nightmare he concocted for himself. Instead, his eyes stared gray and sightless at the wall to his left, his hand placed carefully next to his face as if to simulate thumbsucking.

Remara was in the hands of an alien invader who had cracked.

Zim came to a stop in front of the containment unit and stared at Remara, who was still attempting to scale the force field wall. "Glass creature. You will listen to Zim. Now."

"I don't have to listen to anything you say Stupid Zim!" she threw herself against the walls again.

Zim lifted his wrist and pressed a dial. Remara's bright orange color faded, her movements becoming sluggish.

Dib bolted up, overturning his chair. "No! Not that fast!"

"What's he doing to her?" Gaz grabbed his sleeve.

"He's draining her heat too fast!" Dib cried. "She's going to crack!"

Her form crystalized into a solid state, leaving her pressed flat against the wall, mid-motion. Hairline cracks spread through her body, branching out like spiderwebs.

Zim squatted, typing a code at the base of the containment unit, and the force field vanished. He rose, approaching the glass statue. "Now you will listen to Zim," he said, his voice dangerously quiet. "You are going to do exactly what I tell you. You are going to do it without question. You are going to be silent unless I demand information from you." He pulled a blaster from his PAK. "And if you ever countermand me or shame me in front of my Tallests again, this will be your reward." Pointing the blaster at her midsection, he pulled the trigger.

Gaz cried out as Remara burst apart, bits of glass flying all over the room. Dib stopped breathing.

Zim lowered the blaster and crouched again, meticulously sorting through the glass pieces until he found one large glowing chunk. Dib choked, releasing a shaky breath. "She's still alive."

"It will be interesting to find out how much pain this has caused you," Zim mused. "I will have the computer find all your pieces and return them to this unit. Once you have been returned, I will reheat you, which should equate to a full repair. But rest assured, I will do this as many times as it takes to make you understand who is master here. And I'm sure, if this is not enough, there are other ways of breaking you. I'm sure a fine grinder would have a similar effect." Zim set the piece down and stood, marching toward the elevator. "Remember that when you return to mobility, and we will get along perfectly well. CompuTER!" he barked. "Clean up this mess and put it back in containment. Notify me when you have finished."

Gaz's fingers knotted in Dib's shirtsleeve. "Dib."

"I know." Dib stared at the screen. "We're going to get her back, and now. We're not waiting. Let's gear up."

He spun his chair around. "We're going to need to raid Dad's leftovers for thi-iiiiss!" His hands locked to the arm rests.

Lying placidly on his bed was the creature they'd seen on the playground. Its lengthy limbs lay folded under its body, its moon-white eyes staring blandly at Dib.

_Contact the Irken. Tell him to return the glass flow to full heat immediately._

Dib shuddered as the creature's words formed in his mind for the second time.

"Why should we listen to anything you say?" Gaz demanded. "I know you. You're what she's running from!"

The creature swung its head toward her. _If you value the life of the glass flow, you will do exactly as I told you. She is defenseless at this moment, and the wraiths are about to strike._


	17. The Inside Informant

"What do you mean if we want her to live?" Gaz's fingers curled into fists, but Dib's phone was already out and plugged into his computer. "What are you doing? Dib, don't listen to this thing! You wanna know what she's been scared of this whole time? What she won't talk about? It's this thing right here!"

"Yeah, I got that. I also got there's about to be an attack on her if I don't do something." Dib flipped open his phone. " _This_ thing didn't attack her, and it got us out of range of her heat blast. There's obviously more to the story, which can wait five minutes. Remara can't."

On Dib's monitor, he could see badly disjointed robotic arms spring from the walls, attempting to shove Remara's remains together in a pile.

 _Hurry._ The creature's talons kneaded the bedspread, tearing through quilt and sheet. _They will manifest._

Dib pushed "call." He'd wired his phone to transmit to every spycam hidden in the house. Zim would have to hear him, wherever he was.

"Hey moron!" Dib yelled. "Get back down there!"

There was a calculated pause, then a vicious sneer crackling back through Dib's phone. "Dib. Of course you would be spying on me. We entered an agreement, and I still have no earthstink interference time."

The basement lab was no longer deserted. A pair of white, glowing eyes hung in the shadows of a toppled containment unit, watching the robotic appendages sweep glass together.

"I'm not interfering! I heard everything, and you need Remara for your plan, right?"

"You know nothing of my plan!" Zim snapped. "Foolish worm! That was, um, a decoy plan in place of the real plan, because I knew all about your spying!"

A dark, four legged creature stepped out from under the containment unit, stalking toward the heap of glass crumbles. Dib glanced at the creature on his bed. They were definitely the same species, save for the mane of his visitor being a deep blue, while the base intruder's mane was flaming red.

"If you need Remara, you need to save her. She has enemies and one of them is in your labs _right now_ about to kill her. Turn her heat on _now_ Zim!"

"But nothing can get past my-"

"Do you need her alive or not?" Dib shouted. "Listen to me for once! I want her to live too!"

The computer paused in its duties, taking note of the creature. **Int-t-t-t-trudde.** It swept an arm out to swat the wraith, which leaped easily over its jerky attack.

"What is your motive?" Zim snarled. "If you know my plan then why would you want her kept alive? You should want her destroyed! You're tricking me somehow!"

"She's my friend! I'll get her free of you somehow, but I need her alive for that to happen, you moron! TURN ON HER HEAT! IT'S RIGHT THERE!"

The wraith dashed its claws through the pile, scattering glass everywhere and exposing the only piece that still glowed.

"ZIM!"

It reared back, raising its talons over the piece. As it came down, the piece flared from orange to white. The wraith tumbled back, hissing and screeching as it retreated to the shadows, vanishing from the room.

Dib swallowed hard, wiping sweat from his forehead. "It's, it's gone, Zim. You chased it off."

"You'd better not be lying to me about this, Dib."

"Check your security cameras, if you have any left. If you don't, I'll send you the footage myself. She wouldn't tell me what she was running from, but I just saw it. And looks like it knows where she is."

"Don't think this changes a thing, Dib," Zim growled. "She's mine. My property. And I will wipe the surface of your planet with her, make no mistake about that."

Dib opened his mouth to retort, then shut it, considering the visitor on his bed. "We'll see, Zim. Right now, I'm more concerned with keeping her alive. In fact, I have info on her enemies and how to keep them away. I'd be willing to trade it for a few minutes to talk with her."

"Why don't you give it to me now, if you want her safe so badly?"

"Because everything has a price, Zim! Fifteen minutes."

"Two."

"Twelve."

"Four."

"Ten."

"Five, no more. Final offer."

"Fine. Five minutes. I'll meet you tomorrow. Until then, for the love of Nessie put her back together! It's her first line of defense!"

"Do not order me to do what I have already set in motion! Or anything at all! Hmph. We will meet tomorrow on the front lawn of my base, and you will deliver to me the information. After that, I will escort you down to the labs for no more than five minutes for you to speak with her."

"Done. Noon tomorrow." Dib clicked off the phone, staring at the screen as the computer again swept the pieces together, the warm glow spreading to the nearest touching chunks.

_Face me, human child. She will live, but we need to talk._

Dib swiveled around in his chair, studying the creature on his bed. With the threat neutralized, its ears lay back, relaxed against its head. A large patch of quilt around its talons had been shredded, but now they hung loose. Each talon looked to be about the size of Dib's hand.

"So, what do you want?" Gaz growled. "How come you saved her?"

"Hold up, Gaz. Let's take it from the top." Dib folded his hands. "You're a wraith, right? That's what you called the thing that attacked Remara. What's your name?"

The wraith tilted its head. _We are shade wraiths. We do not have names._

"Well that's gonna make it pretty hard to call you. Mind if I give you one for now?"

_I have no objection to this._

"What about Indigo?"

"Why Indigo?" Gaz squinted at him.

"Blue mane. But calling him 'Blue' is kinda childish."

_I do not object._

"Okay, fine, can we get on with this?" Gaz snapped. "I still want to know why it's here and what it's doing on the wrong side."

Indigo's eyes narrowed. _You assume much in your ignorance._

Dib put out a hand, pulling Gaz back while keeping his eyes trained on the wraith. "Yeah, you're right. We're pretty ignorant. Gaz knows a little more than me, but we could do with a lot more knowledge. Especially before I have to talk to Zim, unless I'm going there and bluffing my way through."

_Ask._

Dib cleared his throat. "Okay, why is Remara afraid of you?"

Indigo turned to Gaz. _In her own limited knowledge, she told you what she could while still protecting herself. There is a war between our kinds, though she is not nearly aged enough to recall the source of our struggle. Doubtless the story has been twisted through centuries. I have long searched for the answer myself, though much is obscured by bitterness. Even I am not fully sure of our conflict's beginnings, but she is well aware of the fate that awaits her should she engage us and fail._

"What exactly would happen?" Dib hedged.

Indigo's talons clicked together. _Her Core would be torn out and extinguished._

"So what are you doing helping her?" Gaz folded her arms.

 _Humans are rather short sighted. They can only see the moment now and what is past while guessing at the future. My kind can see glimpses of the future, though we may each interpret it differently._ Indigo's head tilted back in thought. _To date, there has been no glass flow that has divided us as this child has. There is something of her future that causes a great change, but it is not defined. Most fear her for this, and there has been more of a watch on her than any other. For this reason, I cannot aid her directly. I can, however, arm you with information to aid her._

"Why should we trust you? You still haven't answered _why_ you're helping her."

 _I've watched her since she came to the surface. Most of her kind use their fear of us to fuel their attack, but the first attack on her ended when she sought shelter among other non-humans instead of fighting back. Several of us watched her, but she made no move of aggression. If she strayed too far from her shelter, we would attack, and yet she still chose to flee._ Indigo's ears twitched. _Sometimes I wonder if she came to the surface knowing anything of the war at all._

A faint whine kicked up, and Dib glanced at the open window. Probably just the neighbors and their piece of junk lawnmower. He crossed the room and shut the window. "So you took pity on her."

_She needs no pity. Her future will cause a great shift. But I do not believe it is as dire for our kind as most believe. She has never once displayed an interest in the conflict, and is, perhaps, the only one in memory who has attempted communication with us. It is possible this shift will do us good, but my view is in the minority. Especially now that she is in the hands of this Irken._

"So how many of you are there?"

_Legions._

"I only saw one."

 _Only one manifested._ Indigo vanished, a few wisps of black smoke and a torn up quilt the only indication anything had been on the bed. A cold breath chilled Dib's neck and he darted forward, only turning when he was across the room. Indigo stood where Dib had been a moment before, tail flicking idly. _There are whole armies that do not manifest, but watch._

"So tell them to wipe out Zim or something!" Gaz blurted. "He's the one using Remara as a weapon right now!"

"Wait a second!" Dib pointed at Indigo. "You said the word Irken. You know what Zim is?"

_The answer to both questions is the same. We watch and observe only. We are bound not to interfere in the affairs of other species. The sole exception to this law is the glass flows._

"So you can attack Remara, who's done absolutely nothing wrong, and leave Zim, who's ready to destroy the planet?" Dib's voice rose. "What kind of war _is_ this?"

"Can't you just do it on the sly?" Gaz asked.

_You do not understand. This law is as much a function of our existence as your organs. It is not something that can be broken. The wraith that does so ends their own existence._

Dib leaned back, raising a brow. "A set of laws coded into your biology, that is so cool! I wonder if Remara's got anything like that." He frowned, rubbing his ears. The whine hadn't faded. If anything, it had gotten louder. Maybe one of Dad's inventions malfunctioning in the basement. "So if Zim gets his way and scorches the surface with her, would that affect you guys?"

_No. We could remain in the Ether, watching. But this has been our planet much longer than it has been your planet, and if eliminating the glass child is the only way left to us to preserve it, it will be done._

Gaz bristled. "You lay a claw on her and I'll-"

 _Calm yourself. It will not come to that. His plan is foolish, and you know that, don't you?_ Indigo looked to Dib.

"Yeah. He's an idiot. He could probably do some serious damage, wipe out a city or two at most, but if he was thinking straight he'd harness the sun to burn the planet. No matter how strong Remara is, it's not possible for her to generate the kind of heat Zim needs. She's too small." He scratched his head. "We still need to get her free of him before he does more damage to her, or burns this city."

Indigo's ears drooped, and its head swung toward the window. _Please silence your computer. I have known for a long time the glass child is not an enemy, and her pain is difficult to hear._

"Her pain? What are you…" Dib's voice trailed off. The whine filled the room, crackling from Dib's speakers. He spun back to the monitor.

The warm, orange glow had spread to most of the glass pieces, which stuck together in a mishmash of barely melted shards and chunks. The brightest light burned from the center, but there were still large chinks and cracks all over.

"She's screaming." Gaz covered her face with her hands. "Dib, I can't…"

Dib couldn't tear his eyes away from the screen, but reached over to turn the sound off. As he watched his friend reform in agony, he couldn't help thinking that Gaz had been right all along. He should never have unfrozen Remara in the first place, but now he'd do whatever it took to get her back and keep her safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shade Wraiths are the sole property of Embodiedspirit who was fantastic enough to let me borrow them for my story. References to Remara's past friends and "shelter" refer to Outcast Academy, which is an RP group that you can still join on Deviantart to the best of my knowledge. Proud to have been part of its beginning, though, and sad to leave.


	18. The Plan That Failed

"So, all I have to do is keep her at a consistently high heat and these," Zim's wrist flicked dramatically, "Wraith-thingies will stay away?"

"It'll make them think twice at least. You need to monitor that lab all the time. Whatever crummy resources you have left had better be dedicated to making sure nothing in there twitches without you knowing it." Dib knew he was killing any chance he had of a surprise rescue if his initial plan didn't pan out, but the Wraiths posed a greater threat. Zim he could deal with. Wraiths were still very new and mostly unknown territory. He tapped his foot, staring at the Irken characters flickering on the elevator readout. "If they do, you blast her heat until they leave. Floodlights would probably be good too. If they get close enough to rip out her Core it's all over. She won't fight them herself."

"Then she is stupid." Zim crossed his arms, irritated. "I knew she was gullible, but if she doesn't even have that much self-preservation, this is little more than baby-sitting." He paused. "Strike that. Babies are much more capable than she is." He shuddered.

Dib didn't bother responding. He was running through all the different ways he'd make Zim scream the day he finally caught him.

"I suppose I can respect these Wraith-things. They sound like a fine warrior race. Not like these weakling glass flows. At least they _use_ their abilities to their advantage. They can teleport, you say?"

"Teleport. Telepathic communication. Something they call Fear."

"Who is giving you all this information about Wraiths?" Zim peered at him.

"Found it in a book." Dib shoved his hands in his pockets. "We almost there?"

"Almost. What is this 'Fear'?"

"Pretty much what it sounds like. They can stare you down and bring out your deepest fears. Pretty effective defense mechanism."

"Quite fortunately, Invaders are trained quite early on to rid themselves of all fear." Zim smirked. "Those tactics would never work on me."

Dib's fingers worked the inner material of his pockets, hating Zim with every breath the alien wasted. He'd barely slept the night before, watching Remara's slow reforming process up until she collapsed back into a molten puddle of glass. He'd risked turning the volume up slightly, and had to turn it right back off. He'd heard the cracking noise from her a couple of times before, at moments of great emotion. Now he was positive it was her way of crying. It sounded like an endless loop of someone stomping on thin ice until he unplugged his speakers. The couple hours of sleep he'd gotten were plagued with dreams of being torn limb from limb, healed, and torn apart again.

Indigo had left once Dib was ready for his meeting with Zim. Although perhaps 'left' was the wrong word, as Dib assumed he was still being watched. Gaz was monitoring all spycams in Zim's lair, and according to Indigo, he was walking in under the most intense concentration of Wraith eyes ever collected in the history of the war.

They, of course, would know that Dib couldn't have gotten the information he was spouting from a book, but Indigo assured him that they weren't a hive mind and that the information could not be traced to any specific wraith.

The elevator finally ground to a shuddering halt. Zim's claws closed on Dib's arm like a vise as he warned, "Five minutes. I will start the timer at your first utterance. No interference, Dib, or there will be severe consequences."

Dib jerked his arm away, making a beeline out of the elevator. There was an orange glow just to the left, and he homed in on it. There she was, closed into her little cell. He plastered his face to the force field. It was like pins and needles all over his skin, but he couldn't stop himself. "Remara!" he called. "Remara, it's me, Dib!"

The glass puddle slid back into the far corner of the cell, bunching in on itself.

Dib took a deep breath. _If there's a time for believable crying, it's now._ He slid to his knees, face still pressed to the force field. "Remara, it's okay, it'll be alright. What did he do? Did that creep hurt you? I'm… I'm gonna…" He worked up a choking sound. "Rip out his insides… parade them around…" He wiped his nose on one hand, rubbing his eye with the other. He smeared his hands along the force field, still sniffling. "I'm sorry I let him get you, Remara. It's all my fault. He tricked me. I shouldn't have gone to him for help."

She pooled back toward him, a slow flow across the little cell.

"Say something, please. Let me know you're okay. Or make a face? Anything!" He kept wiping his nose and spreading the residue on the force field, forcing his voice to shake more and more. Hiding nanobots up his nostrils had been a nasty business, but if they could corrupt Zim's force field technology enough to give her a chance at escape, it would be worth it.

A tendril extended from the puddle, gingerly touching where Dib's hand rested against the barrier. His breath caught with no acting effort on his part.

"Dib. You. Are safe."

His throat tightened at her hesitant speech.

"I'm fine, Remara. Are you okay? Can you make a face or a form?"

"Hurts. Can't think. Can't concentrate."

"It's okay. You don't have to. Relax. I'll get you out of here, okay? I can't right now, but Zim's never once gotten a plan off the ground. Not really. I mean, none of them have really worked. Just trust me. I'll get you out of here somehow."

Robotic wires seized his wrists, dragging him back from the cell. "Hey! I wasn't ready!" He protested. "It hasn't been five minutes yet!"

Zim stepped out of the elevator, a dark smirk on his face. "Three minutes fifty five seconds, but it doesn't matter. You've broken our agreement."

"I didn't do anything!" Dib growled. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh really?" Zim raised his voice. "Computer! Analyze that gloppy substance the Dib was smearing all over. Is it truly human snot and tears?"

**Ana-ana-ana-analyzing-g-g-g s-s-snottear substance conf-f-firmed as nan-nan-nanotechn-nan-ology. Acting-counter substance as speak we.**

"Don't hurt him!" Remara surged against the barrier. "Don't break him!"

"Don't worry little glass flow. He can't be broken, at least not like you." Zim strutted toward Dib, who lurched backward.

Zim's strutting was all wrong. The slap of boots came down off-kilter, the toes pointed at an angle and hitting the ground out of synch with the usual metronomic rhythm Dib was used to hearing. He'd been too focused on Remara to take stock of Zim's appearance, but now he could see the tattered gloves. The skin underneath lacerated to the bone. The dark stains all over his pristine uniform.

Zim squatted by Dib, poking a claw at his forehead. "You broke the no-interference agreement we contracted and by the Irken rules of war, you are now my prisoner. Computer, wipe out the nanobots and take the human scum to a holding cell in my other labs." Zim's eyes glinted as he turned back to Remara. "Where he will remain, completely unharmed, as long as you comply with my every demand. Ready yourself, glass creature. Our real testing begins now."

The computer released Dib's wrists as the floor below him gave way, sending him tumbling into darkness. He rolled head over heels down a long chute before coming to an abrupt stop head-first against something very hard and all thought ceased.

….

"Well, that's just great." Gaz spun away from the computer, hopping off her chair. "Idiot got himself caught. Now it's up to me."

Indigo appeared in the doorway, blocking her exit. _For your own safety, I would not advise approaching the Irken at this time._

"I can handle Zim. I've busted Dib out before."

_Apparently Dib thought he could handle Zim too._

"Dib thinks he can handle anything by himself, and he's wrong. I _know_ I can handle anything by myself."

_And if you're wrong? Then there is nobody left who knows the whereabouts of you, your brother, and the glass child._

"You do. You could tell someone."

_I am already bending quite a few rules by speaking with you as I am. I can do no more._

Gaz ground her teeth. "We can't break her out by stealth, we can't break her out by force, and now my brother's out of commission! What do you suggest I do?"

_You may need to leave them there until the Irken realizes Remara is unfit for his purposes._

"What kind of plan is that?" Gaz shouted. "You're seriously suggesting leaving them there like toys for him to play with until he gets tired?"

_I do not enjoy the prospect of her pain any more than you. But it is the safest course of action at this moment. I understand this Irken better now. The more conflict you generate around her, the more interested he will become. Do not give him further reason to be interested in her._

Gaz ground her teeth. "Fine. We wait for now. But get out of my way. There's an entire arsenal of prototypes downstairs from Dad's free-time experiments. I want to be ready. The second plans change, that Irken's lab is going up in flames."


	19. The Heated Discussion

Ever since Dib had been dragged away, there was been a part of Remara that froze harder than glass and would not move. It was nothing she could see and nothing she could reach out and touch, although she tried several times to find it in herself. It didn't melt no matter how hot Zim commanded her to become or how many test dummies she destroyed in the process. In fact, every time Zim opened his mouth, it seemed to get harder. More jagged. And in the moments she thought of Dib, trapped somewhere in this place just like her, she feared it would take over every part of her.

She did not like being a Slaveling. Glass Creature. Flow thing. My Master Weapon. None of these things were her name, but it was all she heard from the horrible green monster. Yes, this was most certainly a monster. So many of the people she had once found a home with had been called "monster" by the world, but not one of them had behaved like this. This had to be what a real monster looked like.

And then she stopped herself. Even some of her old friends had spoken to her with sad eyes, grieved by things they had done that they refused to tell her, lest they lose her friendship. Nothing she could do ever convinced them that her love for them was no fragile thing to be so easily broken, but perhaps they had been cut in this way they feared already and could not risk it again. Perhaps this Zim was in the middle of committing the sort of acts that caused her friends turn their faces away from her in the middle of a sentence.

Maybe she could stop him before he turned into a monster.

First, she decided, she had to learn everything she could about him. It was how she was going to live with the humans after all; studying them. She could study the Zim, and then maybe she would understand how to talk to him.

The clock on the wall said it had been three days since she was slaved and one day since Dib was captured. She thought about the things she'd seen in that time, putting them in order.

The Zim was able to be nice. She had only ever seen him do this when he wanted something, though, or when he was making a bigger plan. She hadn't known he was making a bigger plan when he was nice to her at first, so she had thought it was "just nice." Now she understood. He had only been pretending. He had never been nice since, and all his smiles after were cold or angry. She could not try to help him be nice, then, because it was not something he understood.

But he was very smart. Maybe even smarter than Dib. Definitely smarter than her. She didn't know what most of these lights and buttons were, and how these almost-clear-walls kept her contained, but he did. She felt very, very small when she thought about all the things just in that room that she didn't understand, and she knew Zim would never explain.

There was someone he kept calling GIR but she never saw GIR. She saw the walls move and make arms to do things when he yelled "Computer!" so then "Computer" was the house as a person. Maybe GIR was invisible? She would have to ask, GIR seemed to be important.

Computer was having a hard time talking. She would have to ask if it was sick. No, Zim didn't do nice. He wouldn't care. Maybe she could ask Computer when Zim was gone.

Zim had given a really long speech about her to a photo of two other people who looked like Zim but a lot bigger. Taller. "My Tallests." She replicated the look on his face when she'd stood taller than him. It was alarmed. Afraid. These two were important to him, even though their picture had been making silly faces at him. Important enough that when she was taller than him, he was a little afraid of her too. Were they like her Elders? Zim told the Tallests all the parts of his plan even though they weren't there to listen to him.

Why didn't they listen to Zim if they were so important to him?

Whatever she said, she had to be very careful. Zim could control her heat and he could break her again. It had hurt so much. She couldn't see, couldn't think, couldn't speak. Everything was just pain.

He hadn't done it since, though. She wasn't sure why. In fact, he demanded regular information from her now, as if he was worried about her. Had she seen anything strange, he would ask. If he left and returned, he asked if there anyone else in the room with her in his absence. If she dropped her temperature a little, alarms sounded and Zim would run back and yell at her to get hotter. Did he think someone was coming for her?

She wrapped tendrils around herself, realization setting in. _They_ must have come while she was shattered. _They_ must have tried to… that's why Zim kept asking those questions. The Wraiths knew where she was, they were probably watching her even now. But how did Zim know how to keep her safe? Not even Dib knew. She hadn't told him. Gaz might guess but she couldn't know everything. Someone had told Zim how to keep her safe.

The elevator door whizzed open and Zim's boots clicked across the floor. Remara did not look up, ripples passing over her surface as his boots entered the edge of her vision.

"Glass slave, you continue to fail at reaching the temperatures I require. I am starting to question your commitment to keeping Dib safe. Are you holding yourself back?"

"Who told you about the Wraiths?" Remara blurted, holding herself. "When were they here and what did they do and how do you know what you know when I didn't say anything about them?"

Zim paused for a moment, before the boots turned and marched out of sight. "You would have been wiser to tell me you were being stalked from the start. I may be a slave master, but I need my slaves intact. One came while you were shattered. The Dib was watching over you with spy cameras I'm sure I will find shortly, and called me to warn me. He exchanged information about them for some time to speak with you, which he abused."

"But I never told him about them how did he know?"

"I'm sure you can ask him someday if you cooperate and he lives. He told me he found out from some old books, which I don't believe for half a second. I have all written records of your species, rare as they are, and I can't find mention of any such shadow as he spoke of. Are you finished with your questions? We need to increase your heat. I am adding sand to the chamber. Utilize it."

An opening appeared in the floor and sand poured in. Remara flowed toward it, absorbing it. "How did you know?"

"I didn't. But glass is primarily composed of such melted fragments, it was logical to assume this is your sustenance."

He was definitely smarter than her, Remara pondered, pulling sand into herself. He was also observant. She would have to be careful.

"Who are those two you keep talking to?"

"What are you blabbering on about?"

Remara gestured at the now-blank screen. "The picture of the silly faces."

"Ah." A note of pride crept into Zim's voice. "My Almighty Tallests. They have tasked me with the most important mission of conquering and destroying this planet. There are many of us spread over several hundred planets, but out of all of them, they picked me for this most difficult piece of space rock because they know that I, Invader Zim, am the best of the Elite. I will not disappoint them. I will bring great glory to the Irken Empire, and I will be known as a greater hero than I already am."

Remara lifted her head in horror. There were more Zims. Hundreds of them. Hundreds of Zims trying to do just what Zim was doing to other planets. And this was a _good_ thing to them. "You can't," she croaked. "You don't understand."

"I understand plenty. Far more than your feeble mind can grasp." Zim waved a hand dismissively.

But he didn't. He couldn't. She had been right, but she didn't know how right she had been; his Tallests were just like her Elders. _Snuff out the dark,_ they said. _Nothing else matters, do everything you can to burn the darkness from this place until there is light and nothing but light. Only then can we be safe._

Only it was worse. His leaders did such things for glory, not even survival. Zim wasn't just a monster. They were all monsters. Every last one of them.

No. She stopped herself. She couldn't think like that. Wouldn't let herself. There were always exceptions. There was the Wraith that had warned her to get out before she burned people. And there used to be one that appeared to stare at her during her years as a glass statue. It only stared and did not attack. She had hoped that perhaps it didn't know what she was, but now she realized it must had known. If a Wraith could hold back from attacking, surely she could convince one Zim to change his mind.

_Traitor. Worthless child. You are no daughter of the Earth._

Her eyes clenched shut. How could she convince Zim? She had never even been able to convince one of her own. All they did was yell at her and try to attack her too. As soon as she tried to change their minds, to put a stop to the war, they treated her like a Wraith too. They'd tried to take her Core out, just like a Wraith would. How could she convince a Zim?

Maybe by telling him that she was a Zim too.

"Zim my people are like you and the Wraiths are like Earth!"

He glanced up, wrinkling his forehead. "Say what?"

She grimaced. She had to slow down, Zim wasn't inside her head. "The Wraiths," she began, "They were here a very very long time ago and somehow there was a war started between us and my leaders they said to me 'Go burn out all the shadows' and then they pushed me out of The Core and up to this place."

Zim's hands fell away from the controls, his eyes gleaming as he stepped toward her. "Fascinating. So your purpose was to eradicate these Wraiths."

He was listening. This was good. "Yes I was told to do that but nobody told me why and I wanted to know why."

His eyes narrowed. "A good soldier never questions orders."

Careful. She had to be careful. "But when I asked questions nobody knew why and I wanted to know don't you want to know why Zim you're so smart you must want to know why Earth is so important to your leaders."

He paused, disapproval and pride warring on his face. He didn't seem to like that she questioned her leaders, but she had said the right thing to call him 'Smart'. She pushed on.

"I wanted to know why it was so important to get rid of the shadows and all they could tell me was so we could be safe again and that Wraiths wanted us dead but wouldn't tell me why Wraiths wanted us dead so I started talking to the Wraiths even though I couldn't see them and asking them why."

Zim leaned forward, eyes half-lidded. "And?"

"And they appeared and tried to kill me."

"Hah." Zim turned away. "I could have told you that would happen. You really are a child."

"But not all of them did that in fact sometimes they would watch me like I was something strange although a lot of them did try to kill me not all of them did and so I knew something was wrong with what I was being told."

"Well, that is where we are different." Zim cracked his neck, marching to a control panel. "My leaders are never wrong, and they always tell me the truth."

"Why don't they speak to you?"

Zim froze, his claws resting on the keys before him.

"They don't speak to you Zim there is only an image of them making silly faces even though what you are telling them is so very important to you and I see how important the Tallests are to you but they never talk to you it's just a picture."

"Stop talking," Zim's voice was low.

"And Zim when I started finding other Glass Flows on the surface and saying that maybe we should not fight they hated me and they tried to hurt me and kill me and they decided to punish me by stealing all my heat so I couldn't move or protect myself and left me…" she trailed off.

"So. You are saying this will happen to Zim?" He turned to her, and his smile was all wrong. It wasn't happy, it wasn't cold, it wasn't angry. It was just wrong in a way she didn't understand, and it was scary. "You are saying that my leaders, my Almighty Tallests, will hurt me. But here is what you don't understand, slavechild. I am loyal. I am a good soldier. I do not question anything they tell me, unlike you. I understand why you were cast out, but I am Zim. And I am their most valued Invader."

"They why don't they talk-"

"Silence."

"Zim please something is wrong you have to understand and if you keep doing this even if something is wrong then something bad is going to happen to you too-"

Zim spun away from her, punching a few buttons on the control panel and calling up an image of Dib on the screen. Without another word, he turned and left the room, the elevator doors whooshing shut behind him.

Dib was huddled up in a little cell. It was dark, and he looked cold. There was a screen in his cell too, and it had a picture of her on it. Had he heard everything?

Oh gods. Dib hated Zim. Hated him more than anything, and she had just said she was just like Zim. Oh gods… Dib would never forgive her for this.

Light fell on Dib, and he squinted, lifting his head. Zim marched into view and, grabbing Dib by the shirt collar, began to hit him in the face.

"Stop!" Remara shouted, abandoning the sand pile to press against the clearish wall. "Zim, stop!"

Dib had begun to fight back, and was landing a few good blows to Zim when Zim yelled, "Computer, restrain the human." Wires sprang out, holding Dib flat to the wall as Zim kicked and punched him in the face, chest, and stomach.

Remara couldn't do anything. Zim wouldn't stop. The blows came harder, the impact louder with every swing. She watched the screen long after Dib lost consciousness. But Zim kept beating him.

Finally he stopped, his breathing ragged, his uniform drenched in sweat. Turning to face the camera, he growled, "I am nothing like you. I'm no traitor." Then he turned, adjusted his uniform, and marched out of sight. "Computer," he called from off-screen, "attend the human. He is useful alive. For now."

And the cold hard piece of Remara that she couldn't touch threatened to swallow up everything, and all she could feel was heat and rage.


	20. The First Recorded Drill

Consciousness hurt a lot more than usual, Dib noted as he returned to it. Usually it was accompanied by flannel sheets and a blaring alarm clock, not wires prodding him in the side, tremors, and a glitchy voice muttering, **Sub-ub-ubject at nine-nine-ninety-nine-nine percent re-ery-cove.**

"Did Zim miss any ribs?" he muttered, wincing as he poked himself.

**Exactly fif-fifty-six percentage of one-one-one-one-one rib was missed.**

"Computer, a rib is either broken or it's not. You can't miss fifty-six percent of a rib." Dib rolled up to a sitting position. Everything was blurry and washed out. His glasses… he groped around, feeling for them. Tremors shook his cell, and he put his hand down for balance. He felt a lens slice his palm and yelped. Gingerly, he picked up his glasses, squinting hard at them. One lens was broken nearly in half, jagged chunks sticking up. The other was cracked and spiderwebbed, but they would have to do. He put them on, careful to set them a little farther down his nose.

Remara. Remara had been talking to Zim, trying to reason with-and she was-so that was why-gods, no wonder she never wanted to talk about why she froze. Her own kind had left her to die at the hands of whatever Wraith found her.

And before that, she'd been trying to convince them not to wipe out the Wraiths. And trying to convince Wraiths she wasn't a threat. He stared blankly at the floor. Why had she even bothered trying to learn to be human when she had her own inter-species-war issues to deal with? It seemed like some Wraiths were willing to listen to her, even if they couldn't show that openly. The Irkens would never listen to Dib, what did she hope to learn from him? From humans in general?

Maybe some cynicism and wariness would be good, her naivete would cost him more than a beating if she tried that again. He grimaced as the computer prodded him in a sore spot. "You never push Zim in a state like this," he muttered, though he knew she couldn't hear him. "I've never seen him in a state like this, and when you can't read him, you don't push him."

Then again, how had he learned that? The hard way, of course. He glanced at the monitor, peering past the cracks in his lens to see how Remara was doing.

Her containment unit was no longer green, but orange and white, pulsating in random spikes of color here and there. He couldn't see her through the force field at all. Zim stood at his controls, feverishly punching buttons and twisting dials. There was some grinding, splitting sound coming from the cell, but he couldn't see what was being done to Remara. Was Zim hurting her?

The floor heaved, throwing Dib back against the wall. The cement flooring buckled with a terrific crack, the walls moaning as they sagged. Dib scrambled for cover, but there was none. All he had was a broken floor, walls straining inward, and a ceiling that now liberally rained debris. He curled up, covering his head with his hands, praying he didn't die underground where nobody would find him.

…...

"That's it, I'm going in."

_I can't stop you, but I advise strongly against this._

"He just beat my brother to a pulp after shattering Remara. When are you going to say it's a good time? He's not lost any interest in her. I'm done waiting." Gaz turned away from the monitors, stalking over to Dib's bed. She'd laid out several different weapons she'd found down there. None of them looked familiar, but she'd figure them out once she was at Zim's base, blasting down his door.

_I can't accompany you. I can't assure your safety._

"Yeah, yeah. You made that perfectly clear. You'll die or something if you disobey these laws. Fine, I'll go myself. I don't need your help to handle Zim. I don't need anybody's help."

She rubbed her eye. The weapons were probably covered in dust, it was getting all over her face. She picked a long one that wrapped wires around her right arm and closed around her fist in a sphere that lit up and flashed. Pointing it at the wall, she squeezed the first mechanism she could find inside.

Needles sprang out in all directions from the sphere, and Gaz smirked. "Perfect, I wanted to punch Zim in the face anyway."

More dust. She rubbed her eye with a free hand, glancing up at the ceiling. The ceiling was leaking dust and powder down. Come to think of it, the room was swaying. "That's weird, we don't usually get Earthquakes here."

Dib's monitors crackled, cutting in and out, and Gaz hurried to the doorway. Indigo stood in the center of the room, staring at the monitors. "Hey, idiot, get under something!"

_He has pushed her too far._

"Now really isn't the time!" Gaz shouted as the room swayed more, the desks rolling away from the walls.

Indigo vanished from the center of the room. Gaz crouched over the threshold, shielding her head from the plaster raining down. The earthquake was perfect. Zim's base was already a wreck, and now it would be in shambles. As soon as it was steady enough, she was headed for Zim's base, and nothing would stop her.

…...

"Computer, divert all power to the containment unit! All of it!"

His shrieking grated. He dared act afraid now? Remara flooded up the sides of the containment unit, burning. Burning. It did not melt, but Zim shouted louder, so she was doing something right. She did not know she could burn so hot as this.

She cursed him. In the language she had before she learned human words. The language she was born to. In the sounds of earth and stone and molten rock, she cursed him, screaming with the rage of a mountainslide, a volcano, a canyon cracking its way through the planet's crust.

And below them, the Earth responded.


	21. The Seismic Weapon

_I knew she would never hold to her promise. Her kind never have._

_What do you think of her now? She will call her whole species to the surface at this rate!_

Remara's anger stuttered, her rage lapsing as furious whispers hissed swarmed around her.

"Hah!" Zim cried. "Victory! Oh sweet mother of Irk, this is even better! I am ingenious!" He rounded on Remara, grinning so hard his teeth grated against each other. "Am I not ingenious?" He cried.

"No you aren't what have you done?" Remara shouted, surveying the room. The floor had strange ripples in it now, and in some places gaping holes. The ceiling bent inward, and many metal tubes had burst, spraying cloudy substances into the room. None of this seemed to matter to Zim, who stood waiting for recognition of his brilliance. "What did you do?"

Zim chuckled, brushing debris from his uniform. "For once, little Glass Flow, I concede I was misdirecting my attempts. Just now you reached a stunning degree of heat output, but it seems you can go no higher. And even that is not nearly enough to cleanse the entire surface of the planet. According to the Computer's calculations, I would need an army of creatures like you to do such a thing."

"You can't get to them and they won't listen to you even if you did." Remara glared, pulling the ugliest face she could think of along the entire side of the cell.

_You are fools to think that this means she is trying to end us. Look at her. She doesn't even know what she's done._

_Whether she knew what she was doing or not, she will in a moment, and then what? We let the Earth be overrun as they try to burn out every shadow?_

Remara's temperature dropped as she collected herself off the walls of the cell and back into a solid form. They were here. They were watching her. What had she done? What were they talking about? Were they going to attack her now? She had nowhere to run!

"Of course I can get to them," Zim purred, stroking his console. "You never told me about this little ability." He spun back to the screen, claws clicking across the keys. "Look, this sonic frequency-I've been looking at this all wrong! Hah! That language you spoke, you have an entire language that-given the correct frequency and intensity-causes massive seismic shifts in the earth's crust. As we speak this entire city is reeling from the largest earthquake on record!" The monitor above Zim flickered, dimly displaying an emergency report with the words "Largest earthquake on record!" in bold red lettering.

Remara's eyes dropped to the first photo in the report. The one of the local Skool building, half of it now collapsed. Tendrils flew to her mouth and she held herself still, stricken.

"Just imagine!" Zim threw his hands up toward the ceiling. "In a few moments, I can replicate this noise a hundredfold! A thousandfold! This miserable rock will split open completely. Glass Flows will come pouring out, sweeping across the surface! I will tell them all their enemies, the Wraiths, have taken the appearance of humans! Burn every human! Burn every shadow! Sweep the surface clean and start again! And then my Tallests will descend and recognize the brilliance of their most loyal servant, who led the core of the planet against itself and won! I am ZIM!"

_Whether or not she understood, the time for talk is done. She has brought on us the disaster we feared. The balance will shift irreparably, and we will cease to exist._

_She succumbed to her passions, and now the Earth suffers. She must be extinguished._

Dozens of eyes flashed in the shadows of the room, behind broken tubing and crumbled walls, under fallen crates and from every hole in the floor.

Remara shrank back against the far wall, her core pulsing bright. Zim had begun to laugh, over and over so hard he could barely breathe. He paid no mind to the limber forms materializing around the cell one by one, every one of them fixated on its occupant.

_She is not the threat to the Earth!_

Some few Wraiths turned their heads. Behind them stood another Wraith, one with a deep blue mane and ears flattened against its skull.

"You," she croaked. She recognized this one. This one had watched her without harming her, let her flee without even giving chase.

_You speak of extinguishing her when she lapsed, but she is not the one planning to tear the planet in half._

A wraith with a mane as red as blood stepped to meet the challenger. _The war is about to come full and bubbling to the surface. She has brought this about. We cannot stop what is about to happen unless the law lifts, but the law cannot be lifted. We cannot touch the Irken. But we can lessen the numbers of our enemy before we disappear. Starting here._

The blue-maned wraith shook its head in short jerks. _That is fear speaking. She may be our best hope. She alone has spoken to her kind against their actions. If they do come to the surface as a whole and you extinguish her, we lose our only hope for survival. We cannot withstand all of them._

 _Even they do not listen to her!_ The red-maned wraith scraped talons across the cement floor, the sound finally drawing Zim's attention. _I am through watching them burn us from existence. The future diverges from this point, and nearly all roads result in the utter destruction of this world._

Again, the blue wraith shook its head. _But not all! You have seen the other paths. I know I am not alone._

Zim eyed the band of Wraiths, then turned away, passing his hands over the controls.

"Look out!" Remara shrieked, pressing herself against the back wall. But the walls fell away. "I can't make it stop!"

A surge of energy passed through every molecule in her body, amplifying the heat and light in a wave that passed outward. Most of the wraiths vanished ahead of the wave, one or two crying out in pain as they disappeared.

"There. That's better. I am still in need of you," Zim said, cracking his neck as he restored the force field. "I need a perfect recording of those sounds."

"I won't make them and you can't make me this time because I won't say what I said before!"

"Oh I think you will." Zim turned, walking toward the lift. He paused, tilting his head as if to listen. Crouching, he plunged an arm down the shaft, wrenching backward to drag Dib out from the tube. "Ah, Dib. Perfect, I was just coming to visit. I need a little motivation for my weapon."

Remara's face vanished. Saying, "Stop don't do it" would do no good, it hadn't ever changed Zim's mind. Zim was going to hurt Dib if she didn't do what he said. But if she did what he said, Dib would be hurt anyway. Maybe even die. And a lot of other people too.

And the wraiths. She'd promised she would never…

Dib kicked at Zim's gut, but the blow was returned, and Zim hadn't just climbed up an elevator shaft. Dib curled around his stomach, holding it as Zim pulled out something long and sharp from the metal thing on his back, and rested it against Dib's neck. "Well, slaveling? I don't have all day. Say it again."

"Whatever he's telling you, don't-" Dib was cut off by a vicious kick to the kidneys.

"I am counting to ten, slave." Zim's voice was very cold. "If I don't hear those sounds, the Dib will die. One. Two."

Remara plastered her face to the force field, staring at Dib. He'd told her what he wanted, but what if she could save him from being burned even if she split the planet open? No, then everyone would be hurt, even the people who had first taken her in.

"Three. Four. Five."

She had a promise to keep, to never hurt a wraith, and she had to keep it no matter what, even if nobody believed her. Otherwise the war would continue forever. But if she split the planet she wasn't directly attacking a wraith, was she?

"Six. Seven." The tip of the metal poked through Dib's neck a little, and red dripped out. There had to be some way to save him! "Eight."

"Nine, ten." A spiked orb slammed into the side of Zim's head, sending him flying. "Tag. You're it."

"Gaz!" Remara and Dib cried at the same time.

Gaz stood over Dib, feet planted wide, a round orb encasing each hand and a weird-looking chestplate full of blinking lights hung around her neck.

Zim pulled himself to his feet, his grin hanging all wrong again. "Well. Lucky I haven't turned my armor off. I suppose, maybe just a little fun before I destroy this place." Long metal legs sprang from his back and he scooped a weapon off the floor, the end of it glowing as he charged at Gaz.

Dib reached up one hand, rising just off the floor to face Zim.

Gaz cranked back one arm to punch the control board.

Just inside the cell, the red-maned wraith appeared in front of Remara, coiled to spring.

And then everything stopped moving.


	22. The Miffed Matriarch

Remara didn't dare move. She stared at the red-maned wraith, frozen mid-spring. Zim, getting ready to shoot Gaz, and Dib reaching toward Zim. How had they all stopped moving? Was Zim playing some new trick on her? What more could he try? He was already about to kill her friends!

Blackness pooled at the corner of her vision, and as she turned her head it coalesced into… into…

She wanted to call it a Wraith, but something wasn't quite right. It looked like a Wraith, it walked like a Wraith-with a smooth, graceful gait straight toward her-but she still couldn't name it that. It was as if every other Wraith she had ever seen was a fleeting shadow cast by the noonday sun in comparison with this creature. Shadows stretched longingly toward its feet as it passed them by, as if by touching its talons, they might draw their own breath.

The More-Than-Wraith passed straight through Zim's see-through walls and took the withers of the red-maned Wraith in its jaws. The Wraith remained frozen as the More-Than-Wraith carried it out of Remara's cell, then turned back to re-enter. What light there was in the cell flickered, dragged from the ceiling bulb and Remara's own glow to vanish into the void-like form that seated itself in front of her.

Remara pressed her face to the ground. Her form rippled so hard she found it hard to form the words, "Please make it quick."

"Rise, Remara. I am not here to kill you. Not in this moment."

No Wraith had ever spoken to her out loud, and none had ever used her name. Peering up, she saw the More-Than-Wraith had laid its head down on the ground where hers was, staring at her sideways. Startled, she straightened herself, and so did the other.

"Who are you and why aren't you here to kill me?" Remara demanded, then pressed her tendrils to her mouth. This was not a creature to be rude with.

But it merely dipped its head once. "Syhasashi. And I did not say I was not here to kill you. Only not in this moment."

Remara wound her tendrils around her chest, where her Core pulsed brightest. "I don't understand but you scare me."

Syhasashi's ears swiveled forward. "Understandable. My children have had ill relations with the Glass Flows for millennium. By now, you are raised in fear of the dark as a matter of course, I am sure. I suppose origins of the war are rather conveniently forgotten as well?"

In spite of herself, Remara rose higher, her interest piqued. As she did, Syhasashi's form stretched slightly, matching Remara's new height, keeping eye-to-eye. "The shade wraiths are you children all of them then and you know what started the war oh please tell me nobody will tell me why we are fighting they say only that it has to go on!"

Syhasashi flicked a tail slowly from one side to the other, and for the first time Remara noticed the lack of wings. "Yes. They are my children. I am the mother of all shadows. I breathed life into the very first shadows. Before humankind, there was your kind and my children. I have slept many eons, and I must say, I am deeply disturbed by what I have awoken to find."

Remara settled, puddling slightly to listen to the story, and Syhasashi shrank to match her eye-level.

"In the beginning, the immortal lights were many, and my children still few. I reached out to them, asking that they not strike my children down. In exchange, I promised I would not move against them. They agreed, but asked that, in addition, I and my children would grant them a swift, painless end when they grew weary of their immortal lives. And so the deal was struck. I laid on my children and their descendants the Law of Neutrality, that they could not use their gifts interfere or meddle in the lives of any creature. As a measure of protection, though, I allowed that if the Glass Flows ever breached their agreement, their protection was forfeit. Once I had brought enough of my children into being, I grew weary and returned to the Ether to sleep."

"The Ether?" Remara interrupted.

Syhasashi's eyes narrowed slightly. "Not all of our secrets are yours to understand, child. It is enough to know that this is the place from where you are watched at all times by hundreds of eyes without your knowledge."

Remara shivered, trying to hold her questions back.

"At the time the human child brought you back to motion, I awakened. There was too much agony in the near-future for me to sleep. I felt the void of thousands of lives cut short before their time, and a deep anger among my children. I searched the paths of the past, and saw what came to be not long after my slumber began. My children grew in numbers, and the immortal lights became fearful. As one knelt to receive the ending he had asked for, he rose up and burned one of my children from existence."

For a moment, Remara held perfectly still. Her form began to slip, melting down to a misshapen, faceless blob. "Then it is true what the Wraiths say it is our fault and we started everything and we deserve exactly what we are getting."

Syhasashi laid her muzzle down on the ground again, continuing to stay at-level with Remara. "I have not finished my story. And please, it would be helpful if you would stay at one height for more than half a minute."

"I'm sorry I will try," Remara murmured.

The great Wraith's ears lowered, and she sighed. "You are still a child." Shaking her head, she continued. "And so, once the Glass Flows had broken our agreement, the Law was lifted for them alone, and the war began.

"Hear me, Remara. I do not seek the extermination of your kind. I seek the dignified co-existence of our races-"

"That's what I want too!" Remara interrupted, surging upward for a split second before sinking back down. "Same height same height."

One long ear flicked in irritation. "So you say. Understand something, Remara. I have been watching you since I woke. I have traced your history back to your emergence to the surface, mining the memories of the earth I walked before man's first footprint came to be. It is true, you behave as no other of your kind has since the wars began. And yet, still, your outbursts have brought my children to the brink of extinction today. And as such, I am forced into this rather difficult conversation with you about what is going to happen next."

Remara pulled herself back into shape again, slowly so Syhasashi could follow, and searched her memory for a facial expression to match what she felt. No adequate match could be found, so she kept her face empty. "Is this the part where you kill me?"

Syhasashi tilted her head to the side. "That, Remara, depends entirely on what you do in the seconds following this moment, after time begins to move again. When it does, there will be one window. One tiny window created by your friends, in which you will be able to act. What will you do?"

"Run away." Remara said firmly. "Run away like I did whenever Wraiths chased me so that Stupid Zim can't catch me and make me do terrible things."

Syhasashi's nostrils flared. "Run away," she scoffed. "Of course you would. This is all you have done since coming to the surface. But Zim controls you. With that device in your body, he can freeze you or send out even more heat to living creatures around you. He will always know exactly where you are, and how to come get you."

Winding her tendrils together, Remara tried again. "I'll hold very still and you can take out the thing Zim uses to control me and _then_ I will run away."

"Need I remind you I have slumbered in the Ether for eons now. I have not had proper time to regain my strength. At this moment, I cannot affect physical matter, save for my children. By the next full moon, when I feed on its light, perhaps I will be able to do the thing you speak of."

"But I need it now and that's too far off!"

"Then fix this yourself, Glass Flow!" Syhasashi snapped, her jaws snapping an inch from Remara's face. "It was not my children who began this war, and this is not my predicament to solve. You are the only one who sees the solutions, and yet all you do is run away!"

"I do not want this war!" Remara wailed, pressing back against the far wall. "I never did! I never asked for this!"

"My children didn't ask to be attacked and burned! Let me tell you something, Remara. If this planet suffers one more tremor because of you, or any recording of your cursing, by the next moon I will level this entire planet and begin again!"

"You can't do that!" Remara cried.

"That is all you have said since you were captured, and what good has it done you?" Syhasashi's eyes were slits. "And, actually, I am fully capable of doing just that. And perhaps I should do that anyway. I see a good portion of this world has already fallen to chaos and ruin thanks to the human race. Why should I not restart and be done with it all?"

"No please there is good here I have seen it and not all the Wraiths want to fight and I know if I try harder I can convince at least some of the Glass Flows maybe I just haven't tried hard enough!"

"And how will you do that, confined to this place?" Syhasashi demanded. "I ask again, what will you do with your one window of opportunity? Will you use it to run away again, with this bloodhound of an Irken on your trail? He, who will likely capture you within hours of your flight and wrest the secrets of the earth from you?"

Remara swallowed her defense. Her ignorance of what her rage could accomplish no longer mattered. Syhasashi was right, she had put the world in danger. And she couldn't run away from the problem this time, because if she did, Zim would find her. And then use her. And she would have to watch the Glass Flows destroy everything until the full moon, when Syhasashi would end the world and everyone in it.

She bent her body sideways, slowly, looking around Syhasashi to Zim. His face was smiling, but the smile had never been right on his face. It was wide and ugly and cold. He would be happy to hear what Syhasashi was saying. He wanted the end of everything. It would make him happy to watch it all burn and then go dark and cold. Maybe he didn't even mind it happening to him, as long as it happened to everyone else too.

"Syhasashi?"

"What?"

Remara stared at Zim, her glow dim and her face pulled into a grieved expression. "I know what I have to do."

"And you are sure you will not waver in this resolve?" Syhasashi's voice came quiet and solemn.

Remara gathered herself together tightly, and nodded her head once.

"We shall see, Glass Flow."

Syhasashi vanished, and Dib reached up to Zim's wrist as he passed, seizing the device that controlled Remara's core.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shade Wraiths and Syhasashi are the property of Embodiedspirit.


	23. The Reluctant Assassin

It was barely a thought. Zim was coming at him-no, past him, at Gaz-and Dib lifted his hand, snatching the device he'd seen the alien use to control Remara. There was a sickening crack as the band tore off Zim's wrist, bending it to the side. The Irken's forward charge angled as he tried to swing back mid-lunge.

Gaz jammed her spiked fist into Zim's exposed side, sending him flying back into a bank of dim computer consoles. Two laser blasts sank into Gaz's shoulders, drawing a pained grunt from her. She tilted against a control panel, barely standing.

"Let'ssssssssssee you punchhhhhh with nooooooooaaaarmssss, little Gaaaaaaz," Zim gasped as his PAK flashed. His back was bent where it shouldn't be and there was a large green stain spreading on his uniform, but Dib knew Zim's PAK was already repairing his system. Gaz's shoulders, however, would not be repairing themselves. Zim was vulnerable, but Remara wasn't free yet.

Dib hurled the device at the elevator shaft and dragged himself to his feet. Stumbling over to Zim, he wrapped his hands around that skinny green neck. "Smash the controls, Gaz!"

"With what arm?" she snarled, but he heard boots connect with metal. The dull thud was bookended by a very un-ten-year-old curse.

"Think of something!" Dib shouted as Zim's spine snapped back into place. With a snarl, Zim slammed his forehead into Dib's, sending him reeling. Zim extended his metal spiderlegs, driving one through Dib's shoulder and into the lab floor.

Dib's body locked up. He'd taken a lot of abuse from Zim, but stabbing was a first.

"I'd kill you now if I didn't want to see you burn with the rest so badly," Zim grated. The pain crackled out from the stab wound as Zim wrenched the spiderleg around. He raised his voice over Dib's cries. "You will live just long enough to see your failure to protect this planet, and then you will die in flames."

"It won't happen because your Tallests aren't coming they are only laughing at you and making silly faces because you're funny to watch." Remara's voice was strained and shaky, but there was no mistaking her fluid tones.

Zim froze, his eyes wide and staring, but there was no focus in his gaze. Dib shut his eyes, waiting for Zim to lose it completely and slice him open.

"That's why they make funny faces and don't answer your calls and your house room is broken all the time but they don't help you because they are not coming for you and they will never believe in you."

The spiderleg slid free of Dib's arm with a sickly sucking noise as Zim turned to Remara.

"Not. If I make you. Burn. Everything." Dib could barely hear Zim's voice, and that scared him the most. He rolled toward the control panel where Gaz continued to kick fruitlessly at wires, trying to dislocate them. Smoke rose from her shoulders and her face was streaked wet.

"Gaz, gimme your hand," he whispered. "I'll help you smash this."

"It doesn't matter even if I burn everything they won't come and they won't save you from this place and they'll never believe you can do anything because you are just Stupid Zim." Remara stared down at him, her face twisting into a perfect likeness of Tallest Red. "Stupid Zim!"

"Stop it!" Zim shrieked, banging a fist against the force field. "You are not my Tallest! They would never! They believe in my mission! They entrusted it to me! Zim! Nobody else was qualified enough!"

Remara stretched up taller, her tendrils slimming to spindly arms with two clawed hands at the end of each. She used those claws to stretch her mouth into an even more ridiculous face. "Stupid Zim Stupid Zim can't be a good soldier not ever so don't come bother coming home!"

Dib grabbed Gaz's arms, ready to smash the control panel with her spiky fists, when Zim's spiderlegs all drove down into the base of the containment cell. The walls flickered once, then again as Zim stabbed through the base over and over, screaming, "You are not my Tallest! You are not my Tallest!"

"Stupid Zim!" Remara wailed, her face still contorted in a mocking grimace. "Stupid stupid stupid stupid-"

The containment unit flickered out, and Zim reared up on his spiderlegs, coming to chest-height with Remara. "I don't _need_ you! I can take over this planet with my bare hands! But I will send my Tallests your central organ as a trophy!" He plunged his arm into Remara's chest, reaching for her bright core.

For a moment, no one moved.

Then Zim shrieked in agony, reeling back but unable to remove his hand.

Remara's face was once again her own. Reaching out, she wrapped her tendrils around Zim's shoulders and drew him, quite suddenly, into her body. Molten glass oozed to close around him, spilling into his mouth and silencing his screams. His spiderlegs stuck out from Remara, twitching uselessly, the joints already melted and fused.

Dib's stomach spasmed, his legs turning to water and sending him to the ground.

Spiderleg tips scraped across the cement. Dib tracked a bright orange blob fleeing to the elevator shaft where it tipped over the edge and out of sight.

Gaz was five steps ahead by the time Dib got up on his good arm and pushed to his feet, following on her heels. Gaz leaned over far enough for Dib to grab the back of her shirt reflexively as she hollered, "Remara!"

The elevator shaft had caved in a couple stories down, forming a shallow pit. At the bottom of it, Remara stood perfectly still, looking at no one and nothing. Then her body convulsed, boiling out from the center and ejecting a blackened mass. Smoke poured up the shaft, carrying the stench of charred flesh.

The ground shifted under their feet and the ceiling creaked above them. "Aftershocks," Dib quailed. "We gotta get out of here."

A hoof clacked against concrete, drawing Dib's attention to a Wraith across the room. Indigo paced in front of a bank of computers set solidly into the wall. A tiny metal desk was built underneath and into the wall with just enough crawlspace beneath to shield them.

"We can't leave her!" Gaz gaped at him in disbelief, her normally squinted eyes wide.

"Yeah actually we can. She's safer than we are right now! Anything drops on her and she'll go goosh, but we'll go splat, so come on!" He dragged her across the room as Indigo vanished, shoving her under the desk. He crawled under as well and pulled out his emergency phone. His Dad had stopped responding on this line years ago, after the fifth Bigfoot attack report. But maybe, just maybe, he would respond for the earthquake.

The line clicked open after two rings.

"Dad! You have no idea how glad I am to hear you! Gaz and I are trapped underground at Zim's house. N-no! Because of the earthquake, not because he's an alien. He has an extensive underground… basement. Hurry, Gaz is hurt bad!" The edges of his vision flickered. "And I might need some looking at too."

…...

It was three days before either of them were allowed out of the hospital by the hoverscreens the Professor had set up so he could oversee the the construction of **NEELA** as well as the recovery of his children. The **N** early **E** ternal **E** arthquake **L** imitation **A** pparatus was critically hailed from its blueprint stages by three quarters of the United Nations, and the Professor had promised the world a functioning product by the end of the month.

He displayed the appropriately measured amount of parental concern through the hoverscreens, triple checking the nano-healing levels that had been administered during their stay, before declaring them fit to return to society. There was, Dib noted in resignation, far too much relief in their father's voice. But no matter. If he didn't get them back to Zim's base, Gaz would tear his organs out.

Not that his sister was the only reason he wanted back there as soon as humanly possible. Sleep had not come easily until sedatives had been administered, and his dreams were populated with charred alien zombies lurching after him on spindly spider legs. He could hear Remara's cracking here and there, but every time he checked a burned out store or collapsed house for her, he found another Zim zombie ready to stab him.

The siblings stopped back at their house to load up on prototype supplies from the basement, just in case. Hoverpad. Hover helmet. Rope. Flameproof clothing. Extra flameproof cloths. A couple blasters in case of alien zombie outbreaks. Gaz rolled her eyes at the last addition, but held her tongue. Dib saw bags under her eyes and wondered what her nightmares had been.

Zim's base had toppled to the side and crashed into the neighbor's house. Relief hadn't hit this neighborhood yet, the cul-de-sac was shin-deep in fire-hydrant flooding. Dib wrinkled his nose. Maybe a bit more than fire-hydrant water.

The toilet leading down to the labs had been torn out by the Professor's giant mechanical diggers. All that remained was a jagged-rimmed hole leading down. Dib secured ropes to the largest piece of debris he could find and slid down first, followed by Gaz. The two of them picked their way to the elevator shaft, peering in.

The shaft was as they had left it, though no orange glow greeted them. Dib shone a flashlight in, the beam glinting off a clear, solid glass boulder. A shadow twitched, and Dib redirected the light, revealing the familiar white eyes and blue mane of Indigo.

"Hey! Is she okay?" Dib called.

Indigo turned back to Remara. _She lives._

"That's not what he asked!" Gaz secured another rope and rappelled down, her boots crunching through an ashen skeleton.

 _She released all of her heat at once shortly after you took cover. She did this to herself._ Indigo's tail switched the air. _I have kept watch._

"Well we're here for her. We're taking her home now," Gaz huffed. "Dib, throw down the hoverstuff."

Dib bit his lip, lowering the hoverpad to her. He slid down the rope to join her efforts, his shoes crushing more bones to powder. He glanced down long enough to confirm the presence of Zim's PAK, or what was left of it. The PAK was a fused mass now, misshapen and far too silent and dull. Zim would not be coming back.

"Not the time to think about Zim," he muttered to himself, turning to help slide the glass boulder onto the hoverpad. "Gaz, something's up. She just let all her heat go. She said she hated being frozen."

"Dib, right now I really don't care. We just need to get her back to our basement. Can we not solve _every_ mystery before making sure she's safe? For once?"

Ducking his head, Dib nodded, draping Remara with the cloths and securing her to the hoverpad with their remaining rope. He shot a glance at Indigo. "Hey. Thanks for pointing us to a safe spot."

Indigo eyed him sidelong. _I merely came back to see what the glass child had done. That I landed in the wrong spot has no meaning to you._

Dib's mouth curled slightly. Of course, the wraith couldn't directly interfere, but Dib appreciated its intentions.

_You have the child in hand. My watch is complete now._

"Good riddance," Gaz muttered.

Dib rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Excuse her. Are we gonna see you again?"

_Perhaps. Perhaps not. Because of your interactions with the glass child, you are most certainly watched. We shall see what happens next._

"Well, thanks for everything, and-" Dib blinked. The wraith had already left.

"Dib, would you quit goofing off already?" Gaz snapped. "I can't do everything myself!"


	24. The Maternal Darkness

The basement was dark. It was dark most of the time now, save for the soft glow of the boiler playing across Remara's slick surface. She'd been placed right next to the vent to help her absorb heat with more ease.

That had been two weeks ago.

Dib dragged a chair a few feet from Remara and sat, legs crossed, eyes fixed on her. She had frozen herself, Indigo claimed. There wasn't even a face or any discernible limbs, just a hunk of glass the size of a small boulder. As if she wanted to be forgotten. Unknown.

"Skool's gonna be back in session next week," Dib said. "Funny, it took getting demolished for us to finally get decent funding. Ms. Bitters says to not get used to the new desks because of the inevitable corrosion and decay of all things in this life. I hear her first lesson when we get back is all about entropy. She'd have more to moan about, but rescue crews managed to dig everyone out, so no funerals. I'm sure she's disappointed."

No response. Not that he really expected one anymore. Sensors he'd set up to track any movement or flicker of heat from her had read completely flat since she'd been recovered from Zim's base. All he had to hold onto was the word of the wraith that she still lived.

"Gaz is holed up in her room, still." Dib's voice dropped lower. "She took it pretty hard when you wouldn't even try after a week, you know. But I guess you could tell, since all this happens in real time for you."

He had footage of Gaz's visits over several days. Coming down and talking to Remara. Putting her hands on Remara. Opening up her treasured sketchbook and showing pages to Remara. Screaming that Remara wasn't trying, and how dare she give up, and who did she think she was waltzing into their lives like that and then shutting down. Stomping up the stairs, choking that she wished they'd never gone back for her. Slamming the door.

"I haven't seen her that mad since she didn't get the last Gameslave she'd been waiting for in line for nearly a day. Even then, it was a different kind of mad. Not like this." He lifted one shoulder up and dropped it down. "You got her to care somehow, and that pissed her off. It's pretty hard to get her to care about anything but her games and food. And maybe Dad." His eyes unfocused slightly as he drifted back. "Maybe she's only got enough energy to chase after one family member for attention. I'd have picked Dad too." The corners of his mouth pulled down. "I gave up on that, though. Mostly. But maybe I shouldn't have quit trying for Gaz."

He scooted his chair a little closer, so that his feet almost touched Remara when he let them dangle. "Are you doing this because you're scared of Zim? He's gone. Not even his PAK left, and that's how he might have been able to come back. Irkens, they're really different. There's the body and the PAK, the metal thing on his back. The PAK is a copy of Zim, and it's gone. I pried it open, and everything is melted and warped and… covered in glass."

Fantastic. Perfect way to make her feel like crap. _A plus job, paranormal investigator,_ he mouthed to himself.

He wasn't sure how to take Zim's death. There was an aspect of victory in it, as well as a measure of safety for the planet. But there was no proof to be had. Zim's remains were ash, and within a week of his death, his ugly green base had gone up in flames. Dib could only assume an internal self destruct had triggered in the absence of Zim's PAK signal for a certain length of time. He'd spent a day venting at Remara about how he should have gone in for some of the Irken's tech before it burned. Even busted, it would have proven something. But then, at least he was alive. He'd have probably been inside once the self destruct triggered, had he not been trying to rouse Remara every day.

Zim. Remara had claimed to be like Zim. He could hardly believe his ears when she'd spoken those words, but it didn't fit. Sure, maybe she'd even been fed the same lies by her leaders, maybe she'd been outcast too. But Zim hadn't changed once, while Remara… well it seemed she hadn't changed either, but it wasn't the same. Zim had been rejected for madness. Remara, for open arms.

He pulled a flashlight from his new trench coat and shined it on her. The light entered the boulder, scattering around the room in little diamonds of light. He smiled warmly, remembering all the times he did this as a kid in the attic.

"You're not the same as Zim, Remara," he said softly. "You're better than he ever was. I wish you'd come back and talk to me. Please. Let me say I'm sorry for letting that happen. For not seeing what he was up to sooner."

Silence.

"Full moon last night. I don't think you've really gotten out to see one. It was really beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen it shine that bright before. Sorry I didn't get any pictures, but maybe next time I'll take some and put them up on the walls. I should probably start decorating this place. I know it gets lonely when nobody's here."

He switched off the flashlight and stood, walking to the far corner of the room and sitting with his back to the wall. From here, he could see Remara in the soft glow of the boiler, but she probably couldn't see him. The concrete was cool and dry, and felt good against his back. Might as well enjoy a few more minutes of peace. Once he got up to his computer, it would be all checking the Swollen Eyeball Network, updating his blog, analyzing any old data he had on Zim to see if he would ever be able to prove anything now, or bury the files for good.

His eyes began to ache. He reached up under his glasses, rubbing them. Was it him, or did it just get a whole lot darker? The boiler light had dimmed considerably, and it looked like someone had punched a hole in the opposite wall-which wasn't possible, because even if he could see that far in the dark room, nobody could punch a hole in concrete that silently, and underground-

It wasn't a hole. It was a form. It was a form with glowing eyes, but the body wasn't like any other wraith he'd seen, because at this distance he should only be able to see glowing eyes. The black of this creature put the darkness around it to shame, and the light itself seemed to cower.

And it was staring straight at him.

He didn't dare breathe. He didn't believe much in primal instinct, but something right around that level was telling him this was something on a whole other level of power than he'd ever met before.

It swung its head toward the mound of glass and strode toward it, its every motion straining Dib's eyes against the impossibility of the pure void that had just crossed the room.

It lifted one foreleg, resting its claws against the glass. He tensed. Was it going to destroy Remara? What could he do against a creature like this if it did? He fingered the flashlight in his coat.

"Live," the creature breathed, and flames sprang out of the boiler. They curled around Remara, whirlpooling around her, pressing against her surface.

"Live," the creature insisted, as the flames would sink no deeper. More flames joined them, and the talons of this being burned with the light of an inferno.

"Live!" it demanded, and suddenly the flames and the light and all warmth in the room vanished, draining into the mound of glass that suddenly reared up, towering over the creature.

"I did what you wanted!" Remara shrieked. "I did what you demanded of me Syhasashi now let me alone to freeze!"

The creature-Syhasashi-grew to match Remara's stature, staring her eye to eye. "I cannot do that."

"Then kill me!" Remara lunged forward, slapping her tendrils against the void-form before her over and over. "Kill me like they all kill us in darkness in the cold in fear just do it and you won't have to worry about me cracking the earth open or hurting any more wraiths!"

Dib's insides curdled. She really did have a deathwish, attacking something like that. But Syhasashi didn't even budge. She merely stared at Remara, her eyes reflecting the glass flow's futile rage. It was obviously as effective of a five year old beating its fists against the leg of an adult.

When Syhasashi failed to respond, Remara slumped back down to the concrete, smushing her face into the floor. "Why won't you kill me or leave me alone why is it so important to you that I live?" she whispered.

Syhasashi folded long legs and laid down next to the Glass Flow. One ear flicked in the direction of the corner Dib hid in, and he tensed.

"When I spoke to you in the pocket of time before you were freed," she said, and Dib got the distinct impression things were being repeated for his benefit, "I told you what was at stake. That you would always be hunted by Zim and that I would wipe your world of all life and begin again if you complied with his wishes. I asked you what you would do. I did not order your actions."

Remara lifted a miserable face a few inches off the ground. "You mean there were other ways to fix that?"

Syhasashi's ears flicked back to Remara as she focused her attention. "Does it matter, Remara?"

Remara pressed her face back into the ground, her body trembling. "It matters because I did what I promised I would never to do anybody and I did it on purpose to make sure he never came back and now I'm a murderer and a monster just like Stupid Zim and just like the rest of them so you should kill me."

The rest of them. Her kind.

Syhasashi released a prolonged sigh. "If this is really and truly your desire, Remara, I will release you from this life. But I do not think it is. In fact, I think you have been running from what drives you for a long time, haven't you?"

Remara went very still. "I don't want that anymore I don't care it hurts too much and nobody will listen to me anyway so it doesn't matter."

"It matters," Syhasashi's emphasis sent vibrations through the concrete, travelling up Dib's spine and raising goosebumps all over his skin. "It matters that you are the first of your kind in millenia willing to see things differently. It matters that you desire peace and understanding over blind war passed down for generations. It matters," she brought a talon around to brush Remara's face gingerly, "that you are a child, and see things with the simplicity of a child. This is needed, Remara. My children need to hear you, and so do your people."

Remara's face crumpled, and she leaned her face against the talon. Dib's chest ached for her. The last physical contact she initiated resulted in death, but here she faced a being she could not kill.

"I don't want to be scared of the wraiths anymore and I don't want to be scared of the other Glass Flows and I'm so tired of being afraid Syhasashi."

Syhasashi studied Remara. "Would you push through your fear and continue your original mission, the one you gave yourself, if I asked you to?"

Tiny little cracks echoed in the basement, but Remara managed, "Yes."

Syhasashi's eyes shut, and she lowered her muzzle to Remara's forehead, pressing it there with great tenderness. Remara flung her tendrils around Syhasashi's neck, the cracks growing louder and rebounding off the walls until the room was filled with the sound of cracking glass.

Syhasashi nuzzled her, allowing time for her cries to subside before pulling back out of Remara's grip. "I have given you a gift, Remara. I trust that you will not abuse it. I cannot protect you against your own, you will have to find a way yourself. But you bear my blessing now, and no Shade Wraith may attack you and survive. Use this gift to speak to them without fear. And, perhaps you will find yourself an aide." Her tail twitched. "I have noted one of my children spends a good deal of time bending rules on your behalf." She raised her voice. "I approve."

Dib wondered if Indigo was watching this. Was this Syhasashi a wraith god of sorts?

Remara stayed where she was, her form still rippling across the surface. "Thank you."

"If you do seek your end, Remara, it need not be in fear and cold." Syhasashi brushed her face once more. "Darkness can be warm, too. But I hope you will not ask for your end for many hundreds of years more."

Remara said nothing, keeping her face down.

"Until we next meet, child."

And with that, it was only Remara, kneeling in the dying light of a boiler taxed far beyond its limits, and Dib in the far corner of the room, barely biting back the million and one questions that had just surged up his tongue.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shade Wraiths and Syhasashi belong to Embodiedspirit. One more chapter to go.


	25. The Heart Grown Fonder

In the middle of Ms. Bitters' new favorite lecture on the ten most gruesome earthquake deaths in history, Dib snuck a glance over to the desk on his right. Some transfer jock had taken Zim's seat and was busy carving up the brand new desk with a switchblade. No announcement for the unexplained absence. No moment of silence. As far as the class was concerned, their skin-afflicted classmate had packed up and left. He doubted they would even remember Zim's existence by the end of the week. He marked it as a final victory for himself that Zim would be forgotten by his intended slaves. The Irken would have rolled over in his grave, had he received one.

His eyes shifted to the desk on his left. Remara sat perfectly still, hands folded, inspecting the textbook on her desk. It had been a month, and for most classes she was able to lift her head and learn from the human interactions around her as she'd intended. But Ms. Bitters had been harping on the earthquake since they returned and Remara had taken to heart the correct posture for shame.

After the mysterious wraith goddess had wrested Remara from her frozen state, it had taken the glass flow two days to work up enough courage to leave the basement and knock on Gaz's door. Even with his ear pressed right up to the crack under the door, Dib couldn't make out most of what was said, but when Remara came out later that day, she had given Dib a weak smile and said everything was alright.

It had taken her another week to work up to leaving the house again. The device Zim had given her still functioned as heat storage and skintight barrier, but every time she reached the door she turned and fled back to the basement. Dib and Gaz's combined forces had barely been able to coax her back to Skool. Once there, she sat mute in every class and wouldn't speak, even to Dib, until they returned home.

The Membrane siblings, for the first time in their lives, found themselves doing homework in the same room after Skool; the basement. They took turns helping Remara understand rudimentary concepts like basic mathematics and how to write. She tended to do better with writing when she had metal to work with, so they abandoned pen and paper and let her etch words into a flat sheet of steel.

Sometimes they would just sit in silence and the semi-dark of the basement with the lights flipped off. Dib would type up reports on his laptop, Gaz sketched away, and Remara would mold and sculpt little pieces of metal into intricate figures. Occasionally a pair of glowing eyes blinked from the shadowy corners. Remara would turn, with a tired expression, to watch the eyes until they vanished.

Tuning out Ms. Bitters' drone, Dib turned back to his textbook, biting his lip. Remara was different now, and it wasn't just the silence and near perpetual sadness. Every day it took her less effort to compose a formal human shape, and she had taken to keeping it more often than her previous shape. She had exchanged her fireproof clothes for more normal middle-Skool clothes with some help from Gaz, who had access to their Dad's emergency credit card. A long-sleeved shirt, full-length pants, and a wide-brimmed floppy hat did wonders for covering her bright orange glow, and she had begun practicing a new story about being in a tragic accident followed by botched corrective surgery to explain her face. Dib was particularly proud of that one, and more proud that Remara could deliver it with the correct amount of wistful sadness, but it only added to his worry.

She was evolving, and Syhasashi's words hung heavy in his heart. According to her, Remara had something important to do. He couldn't help feeling her time with them was short, so every spare moment was spent with her. What few evenings he managed to pry her from the basement, he took her and Gaz on nighttime walks to show off the moon and point out constellations. He would talk about reports of haunting cropping up all over, and how they were putting out the call for amateur paranormal investigators to prove their mettle. He would talk about anything and everything except what he really wanted to ask; if Remara was preparing to leave them.

Gaz's suffocating silence begged the same question.

It was nearly two months later, as the three of them sat in the basement working on their projects, when Remara finally answered their unspoken question.

"I have to go soon," she said softly. "You have been very good and kind and helpful to me but I need to go out and continue what I was doing before I was moved to your attic."

Gaz's pencil tip snapped. Dib's fingers froze over his keys. He didn't have to look up to know she was watching them, assessing their reactions.

Swallowing hard, he licked his lips. "We… we don't really want you to go, Remara. We'd like you to stay." His eyes flicked to Gaz for confirmation, and her head bobbed once, a sharp dip and rise.

"And I would like to stay but the longer I stay here the more glass glows get their cores torn out and the more shade wraiths get burned away and I love you both very much and I would like to stay down here with you like this forever but how can I stay down here when I know what I know and what I know could make some of the dying stop?"

"Haven't you learned anything?" Gaz's voice shook. "The world breaks things like you. It takes anything good and decent and wrecks it. You have to stay."

Remara reached out a hand and set it gently on Gaz's head. Dib held his breath. Remara rarely initiated contact anymore. Even though she was able to once again, now it came with a flinch. A shudder. At times her features would rearrange to a familiar, harshly angled face. One that screamed in agony. Those times were accompanied by abrupt withdrawal and silence.

But now she ran her hand over the top of Gaz's head, and Gaz lunged forward, throwing her arms around Remara's middle. Remara held perfectly still, her features scrunched in concentration. Dib could practically feel her struggle not to panic.

Finally, she dropped her arms down and circled them around Gaz. "I have learned but I have learned something very different Gaz because I had good teachers on how to be human and I think it's not what you say it is I think it is facing the things that are hard and even when you do get broken you don't run away you try again."

Gaz snorted, wiping her face. "Sounds like some kind of stupid fairytale moral. But I guess I wouldn't expect anything else from you."

Dib fixed his eyes back on the laptop. It was fine. It was no big deal. She had to go do something important and be somebody important to other people.

"Dib?"

She'd probably end up a hero to both sides and be super busy and never have time to say hello. But that was fine.

"Dib."

He was perfectly capable of going the rest of his life without being really heard. Or seen.

His thoughts stuttered to an abrupt halt when slick, warm arms wrapped around him, gently pulling him out from under the laptop and lifting him off the ground. She turned him around and touched her forehead to his, and he could see the shiver travel over her surface.

"I think I will need to come and visit a friendly face sometimes because it is going to be very hard and lonely for me out there so Dib will you let me come back and spend time with you sometimes during your lifespan?"

Something was obviously wrong with his glasses if he couldn't see Remara clearly anymore. But then she had pulled him in tight and secure and something old and battered cracked open inside him and wouldn't stop leaking from his eyes. He couldn't answer properly, his throat only squeaked when he tried. But he nodded, locking his arms around her neck.

That night there were two sleeping bags in the basement, with two bodies curled up next to the watchful glass flow. And the next morning there were two sleeping bags in the basement with two shivering kids inside. The overextended boiler was dark and cold. Two hand-sized metal figures had been placed by the sleeping bags.

The glass flow was gone.

…...

"Dr. Membrane? Dr. Membrane, you're needed at the front."

Dib sighed, punching the comlink from his worktable. "Not now, Vivi. Do you want me to figure out what's haunting this locket or not? I'm really busy and I've only got so much time for personal favors."

"I know, and I'm really grateful, but she really won't leave."

Rolling his eyes, Dib continued applying pressure to the locket hinge. It would not open for him, no matter what angle he came at it from. Every time he tried to pry it open through the crack in the front, tiny pink ghosts would screech bloody murder while divebombing him. It made for a fascinating case, but utter frustration as well. His assistant had been audibly dubious about his competence for days now, and if he didn't pry results from this cursed piece of jewelry he would never heard the end of it.

"Doctorates in Parapsychology, Cryptozoology, Ufology, and Paranormal Science. I will not be beaten by a cheap cereal box trinket!" He worked the hinge, gritting his teeth. "Escort her off premises, then! That's what security is for."

"They tried, sir, but she doesn't move and every time they grab her she just slips through their hands."

"What do you mean she slips through their hands?" Dib hurled his tool across the room, growling. "You can't slip through someone's hands and stay still at the same time."

"Well get your cornswaggled rear up here and see for yourself if you don't believe me!" His assistant's frustration crackled through the com. "Says she won't leave 'til I tell Dib the Glass Lady came to visit."

For a moment, Dib forgot to breathe. Slowly, he set the locket back in its designated lockbox and shut the lid, spinning the combination dials. "Vivi. Cancel all appointments for today. And tomorrow."

"Sir?"

"I'm coming up front."

His boots clicked down the hall as he took mental stock of the changes she would see. Taller, of course. Much taller. Longer hair. Thick ocular enhancing goggles instead of glasses-his father never had gotten around to curing their degeneration. Pity. Same trench coat, though, and thick rubber gloves.

She would recognize him, right? How much had she changed? Was it really her?

He hurried to the front doors of the Membrane Paranormal Research Institute, swinging them wide. "Stand down!" he ordered the security guards, who were still trying to budge the figure on the front walk.

A long, loose dress covered her frame. Close and high-collared at the neck, the sleeves only traveled three-quarters down her arms. Her hands and forearms were well concealed in simple white gloves, and tall hiking boots took care of her feet. She retained the floppy, wide-brimmed hat, and beamed at him from under it.

If not for the orange glow, he would never have taken her for anything but human. No longer did she look like a crude carved bust; every facial detail had been perfected down to the texture of eyebrows and eyelid creases. The faintest of lines traced iris and pupil of the eye, and when she smiled the corners of her eyes crinkled like any human's skin. He could not imagine how long she had practiced to master these micromotions unconsciously.

"Dib!" She broke away from security, leaping forward and throwing her arms around his neck. Her head only just came to his chest, and she had to stand on her boot-tips to reach. He closed his arms around her tightly, lifting her off the ground an inch or two and holding her there.

"Knew you'd come back someday," he managed, feeling ten years old all over again.

"I did not think it was so very long but I think I misjudged how long it was for you," she said softly. "I am very sorry Dib where are you in your lifespan now?"

He set her down. "Still first third. Maybe first quarter with all the longevity research my Dad left me. There's a lot to talk about, but I gotta call Gaz and get her down here. Gaming R&D can wait, she'll rip me apart if I don't tell her you're here." He took her hand, squeezing it. "Do you have some time?"

At her nod, he pulled her inside, back to his little lab, and hit the com. "Hey Vivi, can I get some cocoa and cookies in here? And call Gaz, tell her to get down here ASAP to see an old art buddy."

"What am I, the crumbustled footmaid around here?" There was a heavy sigh on the other end. "Five minutes."

Remara took a seat on a workstool, perfectly perched with her back straight and her gloved hands folded neatly in her lap. A bit formal, but nothing unusual or out of place. He felt a little silly at the amount of pride he took in her ability to blend-she had obviously worked toward this innumerable lengths of time without him-but he couldn't help it.

He took a seat across from her, leaning forward slightly. "Tell me everything. Where did you go? Who did you see? Have you made any progress with the wraiths or the other flows? Who-"

She laid a finger across his lips, a wry grin on her face. "Don't forget to breathe Dib after all I'm the one with no lungs remember?"

He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. "I missed you. A lot. I didn't know if you were okay."

Her smile faded. "I was not okay for a long time." She paused, seeming to gather her words carefully. "And if it is okay with you I would like to go to the place where Zim's base was to say some words that I have been thinking over for a long time because I think it will help me will you take me there later?"

Zim's base had been bulldozed and the lot filled with a modern home, but Dib supposed it was the location that mattered most. Besides, a barely cursory city inspection of the grounds had never turned up the extensive underground laboratory tunnels. He'd followed the news for months to be sure. Everything under the surface remained, though burned and ruined beyond all use. He nodded, solemn. He sat back, pressing his fingertips together. "So, where have you been?"

She fiddled with the fingers of her gloves absently. "Many places some of them I know the names of and some of them I do not and some of them have people and some have no people but I am never alone."

Dib's shoulders tensed. "The wraiths?"

She dipped her head. "They are always watching still but Syhasashi spoke true and not one has tried to harm me since in fact the one who says you call him Indigo is often with me guiding me and I have learned much from him in fact the sight of us together and talking peaceably has become enough to give pause to some of the glass flows I try to speak with."

"Some pause, you say?" Dib pressed. "And others?"

She dropped her gaze. "Others I must flee as quickly as possible."

Dib sighed. "Uphill battle, I guess. I'm sorry, Remara."

Lifting her head, she offered a warm smile. "Do not be sorry Dib it is hard yes but it is the right thing and even though change is slow it is happening in little bits wherever I go."

A knock at the door interrupted them. Dib rose to receive the tray of cocoa and cookies, offering a mug to Remara. "Please, have a drink," he said, raising an eyebrow.

Matching his expression, she took the mug and lifted it to her mouth. Steam rose from the mug as she tilted it, then set it down. The liquid level in the mug had dropped.

"Evaporation. Nice technique." He held up a cookie, testing again. "Why don't you eat something?"

"I'm sorry but I'm really not very hungry right now I would be happy to take it home though." She pulled a small cloth from her pocket and took the cookie, wrapping it up and returning it to the pocket.

Dib's grin stretched ear to ear. Believable excuses and improv on the fly? He was lucky Remara was a kind creature, a flow with malicious intent could be a hideous con artist or a manipulative serial killer with acting and mimicry skills that accurate. One last question. "What happened to your face? You're awfully glowy."

"Oh that." Her eyes rounded out, her lips pursing sadly. "I was in a terrible accident and the doctor didn't know what to do he was only just learning his job and well my face will always be like this forever why am I really so terrible to look at?"

Dib clapped a hand over his chest and dipped a short bow. "Remara, I'm impressed. You dragged in the sympathy factor. Nobody would dare pursue a line of questioning unless they were me, and there's not a lot of Dib Membranes out there."

"So does that mean you'll stop worrying about me?"

His mouth quirked as he straightened. "Sorry, Remara, but I'll always be worried about you. You could ease that by visiting more often…?"

It was Remara's turn to sigh. "I will try Dib it is just there is so much always happening and time goes by and then before I know it you are taller than me even though I only just left."

Dib sipped his cocoa. He doubted he could ascertain Remara's lifespan as she probably didn't understand that herself, but it was undeniably much longer than his. The time between her departure and return probably hadn't dragged nearly as long for her. "So. You will be going back out there. To keep trying to end the war."

She nodded firmly. "This is the important thing I need to do with my life Dib but it would be nice to spend a few days with you and Gaz I have missed you and I need some time to rest."

"You can crash at my-I mean stay. Stay at my place any time."

"And maybe you could also help me with something because I have heard there is news of a strange wraith that is not quite a wraith and he is making humans talk about him." She pulled a article clipping from her pocket, sliding it across to Dib. "I have this picture from the magazine about him but I have been to this laboratory they are speaking of and it was all burned down I promise it wasn't me but I was wondering if you could maybe help me to find him he might be able to help me also."

Dib studied the image. The wraith looked more humanoid than any he'd seen as a child, standing upright with jet black skin, glowing markings, and those long, horse-like ears. Wings folded at the shoulders, and white eyes glowed eerily. Hybrid, perhaps? Then his eyes caught on the name of the laboratory.

"Pandora Biogenics. I know about this mess. Our institute tried to get an interview for months, but then they went up in flames. I'll see what I can do."

The com blatted at him. "Sir, your sister is here about to kick the door down."

Dib snickered. "Come on, Remara. Gaz is still a scary sister you don't want to keep waiting."

Remara was already halfway out the door. Dib rose, following her out. He made a mental note to extend his schedule-clearance for the rest of the week. It was time to catch up with an old friend. And maybe he could get a little fieldwork in with her to boot.

…...

An empty workroom, the door hanging slightly ajar.

A collection of paranormal knickknackery and gadgets scattered here and there.

A cracked locket, pulsing softly in its lockbox.

A pair of glowing eyes hanging just over the lockbox. And then, a slender muzzle nudging the box open. A blue-maned wraith studying the locket inquisitively.

A single talon lifted. Tapped gently against the locket once.

An empty workroom.

A locket, splayed open, ready for inspection.

**THE END**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the admin of the Rise and Fall of Nickelodeon for letting me run the believability of a few lines by him, and contributing a line to that part. Most especially though, a huge round of thanks to Lile Jehu (formerly known as Spirit) for lending me Syhasashi and the Shade Wraiths. They were the one brainstorming with me and answering endless questions about Shade Wraiths and Syhasashi and checking over the chapters to help me be sure I'd presented their original characters/species correctly. Thank you for all your patience with how slowly this fic moved for awhile, friend. It's been a wonderful time. They are currently working on a novel series with the Shade Wraiths and the briefly mentioned "not-quite-a-wraith" so keep your eyes peeled for breaking-out author Lile Jehu in the UK! (that's right, this is a pre-publication crossover fanfiction)


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